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It was a bad idea. It was Heart’s idea, really. Soul always liked art, so why not get him some safe paints to fingerpaint with when she’s regressed; what could go wrong?
The table Mind had carefully set up for Soul with everything he could want, Soul’s chair, Soul, Heart’s blindfold, Heart himself, even Mind: all of them have been absolutely covered in paint. Soul has never looked happier. Her eyes alight with joy as he looks upon what she’s done, a wide grin splitting his face in two.
As nice as it is to see Soul so happy and carefree [a rare sight], Mind can’t help its growing discomfort. The paint covering it has hardened in places, though still slightly wet and slimy in others. It’s disgusting, it’s annoying, it’s gross and it hates it.
Before Mind can think about what it’s doing, it reaches for Heart, tugging at his hoodie as it whines. Heart can help, right? Heart needs to help, it needs help.
“(Mind? What’s wrong, love?)” Heart turns to face it, reaching a hand up to hold its face. Attempting to caress its cheek with his thumb, Heart accidentally smears a big glob of paint over Mind’s face. Squirming, Mind tries to get away, its whines becoming more shrill and desperate, breathing heavily whenever its whines stop.
Heart freezes for a second, thinking.
“(Oh, shit, the paint,)” he says under his breath, more to himself than anyone else. Then, in his softest voice, “(I’m so sorry, Sunshine. Do you wanna get cleaned up?)”
Whining again, Mind shoves its forehead against Heart’s chest, slightly bobbing its head up and down in a nod. It can feel Heart slowly, carefully placing a hand on its head.
“(Alright, puppy. It won’t be long, okay? You’ll be alright,)” Heart reassures. “(Actually… Soul, love? Do you wanna get cleaned up too?)”
Mind is only vaguely aware of Soul leaving her chair to stand at Heart’s side, before Heart leads them – as they both cling to his hoodie – to the bathroom. It’s a tight fit, but they manage. Soul sits on the side of the tub, kicking his feet; while Mind curls into itself, sitting on the toilet lid.
“(Let me know if I miss anything, okay?)” Heart says, before he begins wiping Mind down. It’s not the nicest feeling, but Mind can’t help the way it leans into the touch. It doesn’t take long before Heart is done, and Mind would almost feel ashamed of the way it whines pitifully for Heart’s attention as he draws away, if it wasn’t too deep in puppyspace to really care about those things. It wants attention, it wants to curl up in Heart’s lap and for him to give it pets until it’s completely forgotten how gross it feels.
Instead, Mind contents itself with checking to see if Heart missed anything– but he didn’t. Mind is entirely clean, save for the splotches of paint on its clothes; uncomfortable and annoying, but at least it can’t feel that like it would if it were on its skin.
It doesn’t feel like long before Heart is done with Soul, too, and he leads them to Soul’s room for a quick change of clothes for her– she really had painted herself as much as he had the paper. Soul insists on changing himself, so Heart takes Mind to its room for its own change of clothes while Soul changes.
Heart picks out a loose shirt and similarly loose shorts for Mind; it makes no move to take the clothes from Heart, merely clinging to his side and whining, so he starts to change Mind. Happy with the attention it’s getting, Mind cooperates with him, and it isn’t long before it’s in fresh clothes, unmarred with any paint.
“(Do you want to get anything else while we’re here?)” Heart offers. Mind whines pleadingly, unable to actually go and get its things; the idea of leaving Heart’s side sounds so impossible, doing anything for itself so out of reach. Luckily, Heart seems to understand, as he goes to where Mind’s regression things are always kept – the shoebox under his bed – and begins to sort through it; Mind trailing behind him the entire time.
It doesn’t take much; just its collar [which Heart helps put on, as it leans into his touch, hungrily], the paw socks Soul had given it as a gift, and – after Heart had noticed it gnawing its hand – a chew toy. The chew stays in its mouth the entire time as it follows Heart back to Soul’s room.
When they enter Soul’s room, Soul is sitting on his bed, swinging her feet as she waits for them to return. His face lights up as soon as she sees them, bouncing off the bed and stumbling as he attempts to run over to them.
“(Hey Starlight, you okay?)”
Soul hums in response, before she opens his mouth wide and yawns.
“(Come on, let’s go sit in bed, okay? You both must be tired.)” Heart guides them both to Soul’s bed, Soul bouncing a few steps ahead while Mind trails behind Heart, clinging to his sleeve. Now that Heart mentions it, it is pretty tired.
While Heart kicks his shoes off, Mind crawls onto the bed, curling into Heart’s lap and pressing its face into Heart’s chest. It doesn’t consider where Soul might be until a blanket is thrown on top of it, followed by Soul wrapping her arms around it, nuzzling his face into its neck. The weight of Soul on its back is nice, the pressure and the happy hums she breathes out soothing it.
Once Heart is done with his shoes, he attempts to shift them all into a better position. Fluffing Soul’s pillows up, Heart leans back, Mind now resting its head on his stomach, Soul curled up on top of it. Pulling the quilt over Soul, Heart relaxes, wrapping his arms around both Mind and Soul.
Mind knows the second Soul falls asleep; he goes limp, a dead weight, yet still managing to cling onto Mind. The weight makes its eyes feel heavy, not helped by Heart cooing softly at it as he cards through its hair. Gently gnawing on its chew toy, Mind lets itself relax, and eventually its eyes shut, giving in to sleep.