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The Toy Soldier had many uniforms. Uniforms from the wars it had fought in with joy, uniforms that it got Jonny to recreate if the cloth had gotten too ruined. But there were some clothes that weren't uniform. It was a simple fluffy red jumper, matched with a pair of red shorts, hidden within the jumper was a pair of dog ears and tail. The Toy Soldier didn't get them out often, it didn't need to pretend to be within that puppy mindset often. In fact, it pretended to feel embarrassed by it. The crew could understand its pretending when it's age regression, but for some reason, it felt embarrassed when it pretended to regress into a different mindset.
But today was one of those days where it wished it didn't have to be an adult, somewhat humanoid being, it just wanted to be a cute puppy who could be loved and cuddled with. So, finally deciding what uniform it was going to wear today, it grabbed the fluffy jumper, the shorts and its puppy gear. Feeling happier by the second, The Toy Soldier spun around in circles after doing up the belt of the tail– it was a reddish-brown thing that it had stolen from a shop that sold regression gear, it did want the others of the crew to see it so it stuffed it into its hollow chest.
The fog within its non-existent brain increased but The Toy Soldier welcomed it as its legs wobbled, for a brief moment, still within its pretend adult mindset it cursed itself for not setting out its toys or any sort of food, but it was too deep within the puppy mindset so it simple laid on the floor, smiling to itself as it stroked its tail, letting itself get deeper and deeper into its mindset.
It's ball! It needed it's ball!
So with uncoordinated paws, it searched under its bed, not only for its ball but for its toys, eventually it clawed out the box, ‘yipping’ in joy as it tore open the box, the foremost important toy was its ball. It was several decades old, and any colour it had had faded, but The Toy Soldier didn't care, it was the best toy it owned for playing. Moving onto its stomach, The Toy Soldier pushed the ball away and it hit the wall. When the ball rolled back, The Toy Soldier leaned back on its tiptoes, placing its fisted hands on the floor and pounced onto the ball. It huffed in joy as it felt the ball beneath its little paws before pushing the ball away again.
The Toy Soldier did this for quite some time, it enjoyed the simple and repetitive nature that this game allowed, it was easy on its puppy mindset as puppies didn't need to think that much! All it needed to think about was the fun it was having. It also thought about wanting love and cuddles but the rest of The Toy Soldier's crew didn't know about this uniform it wore so it had to deal with having no cuddles.
At least, that's what TS believed before it heard it's door be knocked. It froze in fear as someone's voice filtered through the door. In it's foggy mindset, it didn't recognise the voice, so it stayed quiet. But that was seemingly the wrong thing to do.
The person– Tim, entered The Toy Soldier's room, talking before he stopped. He took in the scene before him, TS laying on the floor, it's hands outstretched grasping onto a ball with a tail belted on, a pair of– now knocked askew, and a fluffy jumper he hadn't seen before. Needless to say, Tim was not expecting this, and The Toy Soldier wasn't expecting having discovered so deep into its pet regression.
“You…you good there Toy?” Tim asked, making the executive decision to shut the door as it saw the look of fear and upset.
There was no clearing the fog that The Toy Soldier let take over it's mind, so it only curled in on itself in embarrassment, letting go of its ball and grabbing its tail in comfort as it whined in embarrassment.
“Okay.” It heard Tim whisper. It didn't expect him to silently walk over to it, kneeling down to it. “Are you…small right now?” The Toy Soldier scrunched up its nose in annoying, huffing. “Okay, obviously I'm wrong.” It moved it's head up to watch Tim's mechanical eye drift over it's body before he asked another question, “Are you a little pup right now?”
The Toy Soldier lifted it's head up, ‘yipping’ in happiness that Tim understood. “Are you just a widdle puppy now?” Tim asked, changing his voice as TS grinned as it flopped onto his lap. It looked up at the man as he put a slightly hesitant hand into its hair, but all his hesitance melted when The Toy Soldier leaned into the touch, sighing in contentment.
“You are very adorable aren’t you?” Tim laughed as The Toy Soldier tried to get as much physical contact with him as possible, practically curling up on his lap.
Looking at Tim with a look that read ‘of course I am’, he laughed as he continued to stroke his hand through its hair. It put its head back down into his lap as it heard Tim talk to Aurora about telling the others that it wasn't available for practice.
“Do you want to continue playing fetch, or do you want to nap, poppet?” Tim asked, the nickname although unfamiliar on his tongue, felt pleasant and so joyful passing through The Toy Soldier's ears.
It wanted to play, of course it did, now that it had someone else to play with! But as a yawn passed through its throat, maybe it was best to have a little nap. So wordlessly crawling off Tim's lap, it crawled towards it's bed before pulling itself up. It frowned with a huff at the bed, it wasn't right! So pawing at the sheets it attempted to make the perfect bed for it's nap.
“Do you want any help, poppet?” The Toy Soldier didn't say anything as it continued to drag it's paws through the blankets until they felt right. Finally, it would curl up in the blanket. Eyeing up Tim, it gestured to the spot next to it. “Do you want me to join?” At TS's nod, he stood up and sat onto the pile of blankets. Tim couldn't even make itself comfortable before The Toy Soldier stretched itself onto his lap, its head resting on his left thigh whilst half of its torso rested on his right, it's arms were out stretched and hung off the bed.
“Comfortable there, poppet?” Tim laughed. The Toy Soldier didn't answer as it simply let its eyes slip shut, leaning into the gentle hand that combed through its hair and rubbed circled onto its back.
Tim repeated the motion even longer after Toy slept, once it woke up and was back in its adult, somewhat human, mindset, they were definitely going to talk about why it kept that part of its regression a secret. But for now, Tim smiled at the cuteness of the little puppy that napped on him.