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The Toy Soldier clicked its wooden tongue in annoyance, it had set up a tea party in the kitchen for itself, it wanted some tea afterall. But there was no one else, which made sense, half of its partners were on whatever planet Aurora had landed on whilst the other half were doing some important duties, but the Toy Soldier really wanted a tea party with everyone.
It was at times like these that the Toy Soldier had a tough time pretending to be an adult being, and it just wanted to pretend to be a child.
‘Rora, where's someone?” The Toy Soldier asked the ship as it pretended to let its age slip, looking sadly at its empty tea party, it just really wanted someone to join it.
‘Brian is the only one available. Do you wish for me to get him?’ The Toy Soldier saw Aurora answer on one of her screens. At Toy's affirming hum, the screen retreated, leaving Toy alone again. It just wanted people with it, it hated being alone, it was alone a lot and being this young it shouldn't be alone.
The Toy Soldier started to sniffle, no tears were able to fall since it was wooden, but it had no doubt there would be tears falling into the now cold mug of tea.
The sadness Toy was feeling was suddenly stopped when it heard the door of the kitchen hiss open.
“B'ian!” Toy cheered, jumping up from its seat and ran over to the metal man, hugging him tightly.
“Hello sapling,” Brian greeted, when he didn't pat back, The Toy Soldier stepped back to see why. In his arms were a collection of Toy's stuffed animals that it typically kept in its tea room as it usually slipped into its childlike mind by itself, rarely did it want other people around like now. “I heard that you wanted a big ol’ tea party.” Brian smiled.
The Toy Soldier gasped and grabbed Brian's arm, “Yes! Party Party!” Toy yelled, it's speech was now only simple and single words as its age had fully slipped to that of a child. “Tea Bad.” The Toy Soldier huffed as it and Brian reached the kitchen table.
“Oh no that's no good,” Brian gasped, “We must make the tea good again!” The metal man placed Toy's stuffed toys onto the kitchen table before grabbing the cups of cold tea. “Do you want to set up everyone whilst I make new cups of tea?” Brian asked, pleased that the Toy Soldier nodded in excitement.
It quickly swiped the toys off the table before sitting down in front of the pile, trying to decide what order to sit them in before eventually deciding.
Toy grabbed the biggest one first and placed it at the head of the table before grabbing the next to largest and placing them either side before eventually the last two smallest stuffed animals were placed and there were two seats at the head of the table for the Toy Soldier and Brian.
Whilst the Toy Soldier was organising its tea party, Brian made the drinks. For the stuffed animals he made just water mixed with brown food colouring so there was nothing wasted, himself a regular tea and for Toy Angel Milk with a heavy load of vanilla and also dyed brown to make it appear as tea. Brian had looked after Toy enough to know that it liked to take naps when regressed and Angel milk definitely helped it get in the headspace for a nap.
After making sure the Angel milk was at a good temperature for Toy, Brian poured it into its sippy cup ; a see-through pale red cup with mandolins painted on, it was a gift from Brian when it first requested Brian to be its caregiver.
“There you go, baby.” Brian placed the sippy cup in front of Toy who mocked a bow, its coordination a bit poor due to its young mental age but Brian returned the bow before he sat next to it.
As they drank, Toy Soldier happily chatted to Brian and to the teddies around it, Brian changing his voice for different stuffed animals to “talk”.
Eventually, Toy's words got lesser and lesser, simple phrases and words turned into slurring babbles as it started to lean against Brian.
“Do you want a nap, little one?” Brian asked, already knowing the answer as the Toy Soldier whined into Brian's side, attempting to crawl onto his lap. “Alright, sapling let's get you to bed.” Brian said, scooping Toy into a stable and gentle hold. The little rested its head onto Brian's shoulder, wrapping its arms around his metal neck.
As Brian walked the Toy Soldier to its bedroom he hummed Swan Song for it, one of its favourites, his soft voice lulled Toy to sleep quicker just as he reached its room. Brian placed TS into its bed, tucking it in and placing a stuffed animal into its arms. Brian then sat himself on a beanbag in the room and pulled out a small set of banjos– don't ask where he keeps them, and started to play a simple tune. He didn't know if the Toy Soldier would still be regressed when it woke up but Brian was happy to stay with it regardless.