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“Jonny get back here you rascal!” Tim yelled as she chased the paint covered little down Aurora's corridors.
Finally, after several years, Tim had managed to convince Jonny to have a regression day, the First Mate had refused to even dare indulge in his headspace since Nastya went Out as he had been in it when he wandered across Nastya in the airlock, of course he quickly forced himself to become big to try and convince her to stay. But obviously he failed, and Jonny blamed it on– not only himself, but his regression, so he pushed away his headspace for years which Tim was unhappy with. Not only did he miss caring for his little calf but he saw what years of ignoring his regression did to the First Mate, how much tension and stress was stored within him, how much more violent he'd become, how poorly he dealt with his grief for his sister.
So, after spending so long trying to convince Jonny that nothing bad will happen if he were to take a day for himself, Jonny had allowed himself to take a regression day.
They started with getting Jonny into the right headspace with oversized clothes, plenty of stim toys and chew-elry clipped on or stuffed into pockets for easy access and a breakfast with dinosaur shaped cereal. It definitely took a lot less than Tim thought to coax Jonny into his little headspace, obviously years of fighting against it made it easier to let it sink in.
After breakfast Jonny had demanded to do painting and Tim couldn't say no to the little terror so he and Jonny went to the secondary common room and Jonny sat and babbled on the floor as Tim dug through the messy cupboard for painting equipment that was specifically brought for if a little wanted to do crafts. The paint was non-toxic and wouldn't dry onto skin or clump hair ; it had been created by Raphaella specifically for littles such as Marius and Jonny who had a tendency to just eat anything put in front of them. That was immediately proven as Tim placed a cup of paint brushes that had seen better days on the floor and Jonny went to grab one. Tim caught on and immediately replaced the wooden brush with one of Jonnny's chew-elry that was made for his sharp teeth specifically.
Jonny didn't argue and happy chomped on the chew-elry as Tim got out of the rest of the painting materials, including an apron that always avoided the laundry for Jonny. But of course the little had to be a terror and refuse to wear it.
“How about this,” Tim started to negotiate, “If I wear an apron also, will you wear one?” He asked as xem held up the paint covered fabric.
“Yep!” Jonny thankfully agreed, sitting still as Tim looped the apron around him, loosely tying it around Jonny's waist in case the little needed to take it off. Sitting down just in front of his little calf, Tim spread several pieces of paper onto the floor atop a plastic sheet, paint pots and brushes nearest Jonny as in his little mindset he didn't think his arms could stretch as far as they could.
Whilst Jonny pressed and randomly swung the paint brush across the page, Tim painted some simple pictures of the octotkittens– little Jonny always did stay concentrated on an activity better if there was someone doing it with him. Jonny babbled although the painting, narrating what he was doing or what he was drawing. So when it randomly grew quiet after some hours of this, Tim immediately grew suspicious.
Looking up was Tim's first mistake as within a moment, a pot of paint was thrown onto her face as Jonny giggled madly like the little minx he was. With a restrained sigh, Tim wiped his sleeve over his face as his mechanical eyes started to auto-clean. Taking another breath, Tim kept any instinctive anger he wished to lash out down as to not scare the little. But taking that moment to himself had been his second mistake as he heard Jonny pour the cup of paint onto the floor and began slapping at it, splashing paint all over himself and Tim. And, to make things even better, before Tim could stop him, Jonny giggled as he ran his hands through his hair and over his fluffy ears.
And Tim's last, and final mistake was daring to mention the word “bath”. With the mutter of that word Jonny suddenly got up and sprinted down the hallway. With Tim's eyes still self-cleaning he stumbled and tripped over objects as xe attempted to run after Jonny.
Which brings Tim to now, running after the rascal down Aurora's hallways. Tim knew at some point they had passed Raphaella and a sleeping, little, Ivy but the dormouse was on the scientist's lap so she couldn't do anything to help apart from laugh at Tim's suffering.
Eventually though, Jonny spotted Ashes and had the greatest idea of using them as a shield against his caregiver. Sliding along the metal floor, Jonny grabbed onto Ashes and quickly turned them around as he placed himself behind them, giggling madly as Tim turned the corner also.
“Well,” Ashes snorted a laugh, “What's going on here?”
“Tintin wants to drown me!” Jonny yelled as giggles overtook his words, pressing his head into Ashes back to hide himself from Tim.
Sighing dramatically, Tim pinched her paint covered nose, “I don't want to drown you, calf, I just want to bath you-”
“See, drown me!” Jonny pointed a finger over Ashes shoulder.
Tim looked at Ashes with a silent plea, knowing that they have a way with the littles of the ship as they themselves looked after kids– especially stubborn kids, in the orphanage and within the Lucky Sevens. So, turning around to face Jonny, bending down to meet the shorter eye to eye, Ashes made a deal with Jonny. “How about this, Jonny.” Ashes made their voice commanding but gentle enough as to not scare the little, “Whilst I help clean you up you can help clean up Tim.”
“Can I drown him?” Jonny giggled, a mouth covering his mouth as his eyes gleefully flicked over to his caregiver.
“Not exactly, but you can pour water onto xem's head.” Ashes gave Jonny a grin who copied tenfold.
Even with the dramatic groan Tim did, he was very glad that Jonny was getting clean, even if the paint was made to not dry in matted clumps or cause skin irritation, he still wanted the little clean so it wouldn't bar him from the rest of the activities they could do today.
So, with Ashes holding Jonny's hand and Tim holding the other, they walked to Jonny's bathroom. Whilst Ashes found new little clothes for after his bath, Tim ran it for Jonny.
“No eye hurt?” Jonny asked as Tim opened up one of the drawers that held all the items used specifically for when Jonny was little, including soap, shampoo and conditioner.
“Don't worry, Ashes will make sure nothing gets in your eyes.” Tim reassured, ruffling Jonny's paint covered hair. From the drawer, Tim also gathered the toys, giving Jonny the choice of what he wanted. Unsurprisingly, he chose the ships and octopuses, giggling as he placed them into the tube, jumping up and down as Tim turned on the water. Giggling and cooing as the water rose up and with it, his toys. “Now, Jonny, this is a very big decision,” Tim started as he grabbed two other things from the drawer, “Do you want a bath bomb or bath soap?”
Jonny eyed them both before grabbing the bath bomb and throwing it into the rising water, pouting when it didn't fizzle.
With a laugh, Tim scooped it back out, “No, silly. It needs to get its plastic off.” Jonny's eyes then widened as Tim peeled off the plastic which was snatched by Jonny to play with before xem put the now unwrapped bath bomb into the water.
It was a baby pink with blue swirls throughout it with a small scent of lavender, Jonny with curious eyes put a finger into the slowly rising water and swirled it around, “P'tty.” He mumbled as Tim turned off the water.
“Are you able to take your clothes off by yourself or do you want help, little calf?” Tim asked as she started to unclip the stim toys from Jonny's shirt to clean them later.
Whinging his shirt in his hands, Jonny mumbled “help”. Making sure to not make a big deal out of it, Tim helped Jonny wrangle his way out of his hoodie and joggers being careful of his ears and tail, whilst also making sure to give the little some privacy as he helped him take off his underwear– even if it nothing Tim hadn't seen before it was different when Jonny was in this headspace, before helping him into the tub. Almost immediately he started to slap at the water and made a grab for the toys.
“Ashy! Bath!” Jonny screamed out when he noticed that Ashes wasn't in the bathroom, thankfully before Jonny could yell again and fully break Tim's eardrums, they entered the room. In their hands were several towels no doubt for the amount of water that was going to end up on the floor and some more shampoo that was made especially to get the mess of paint out of Jonny's hair and ears, in their hand they also held two cups to help with cleaning the little and so Jonny could also “clean” Tim.
“Alright alright, be patient you little stinker.” Ashes smiled as they gave some of the towels to Tim who started to place them over his lap and around xem whilst Ashes placed two other towels and Jonny's new clothes inside the cupboard to avoid getting them wet. Then they placed the rest of the towels on their lap and around them.
“Still can't believe you made that deal with the bugger.” Tim half-hearted groaned as Ashes handed the smaller cup to Jonny who immediately scooped up some water and tipped it on Tim's head.
Ashes just laughed at Tim's suffering as the second cup of water got poured onto xem's head. “It was this, or you attempting to wrangle this stubborn fucker into cleaning.”
“Bad word!” Jonny quickly yelled, splashing water onto Ashes.
Ashes clicked their tongue, face showing playful annoyance. “Yeah, I guess I deserve that.” They grumbled as they went to grab the shampoo.
“No eyes hurt?” Jonny pitifully asked, leaning away from Ashes slightly.
Ashes rested a gentle hand on Jonny’s head, tracing their hand to his jaw to turn his head towards them, “I promise I won’t hurt your eyes or your ears, alright, stinker.” Ashes comforted. It was common knowledge that Jonny wasn’t treated well as a child– part of the reason for his regression, and one of the main things was when he was bathed his father wasn’t gentle around his ears or eyes and caused a lot of harm to them. So bath time for a little Jonny was a troubling time for him, so whoever was caring for him– typically Tim, would be sure to be ever so gentle with the little.
“Okay.” Jonny mumbled as he reached for his toys again, reaching a hand out for Tim to join in in the playing whilst Ashes bathed him.
Being beyond gentle, Ashes poured water onto Jonny’s long half, encouraging him to tilt his head back barely to ensure no water ran over his eyes. And once all his head was wet, they moved onto the shampoo. Using the hair one first, they gently massaged the soap into Jonny’s not so paint covered hair, making sure to assure the little that none of the shampoo would end up in his eyes. Next they moved onto his ears, being even more gentle than they were with his hair, Ashes gently combed the shampoo into his fluffy ears, getting as much of the paint mixed into the shampoo as they could.
Letting it sit for just a few moments, Ashes rinsed it out, getting Jonny to tilt his head back again despite the little’s protests.
“How much longer?” Jonny groaned as Ashes kept his head tilted back.
“Not long, calf, Ashes just gotta finish getting the shampoo out of your hair.” Tim gestured to the conditioner and shook xem’s head, silently telling Ashes that they should skip that part of the bathing to make sure they didn’t have a tantrum or a grumpy little on their hands, if Jonny wanted to complete the rest of his typical bathing routine later he could once he was big. Understanding, Ashes finished washing Jonny’s head.
“All done.” Ashes smiled, giving the little a brief kiss on his forehead, “Do you want to finish bath time or do you want to play for a bit longer?”
They didn’t need to wait for an answer as Jonny announced he was “all done!” and started to attempt to get out of the bath by himself. Tim quickly got up from where she was sitting, grabbing one of the dry tables from the cupboard and wrapped it around Jonny as he got out of the bath.
“Do you need help with getting changed, baby, or do you want to do it all yourself?” Tim asked as he gently squeezed the water out of Jonny’s hair.
“Hel’, p’ease.” Jonny answered, his voice slurring a bit as he spoke. He had definitely regressed to a younger headspace during the bath, thankfully most of the clothes he wore whilst little was suitable for all of his headspaces. So, after handing Tim Jonny’s new clothes, Ashes walked out of the bathroom in order to give Jonny some privacy as Tim dressed him– and so they could change their clothes into some dry ones. Thankfully, after rummaging through some of Jonny’s clothes drawers, they found some of their own clothes that they either left or Jonny had stolen so they quickly changed into them. Afterwards they also found Tim some dry clothes as they had no doubt the gunslinger would want to change into some dry clothes also.
And, of course, they were right, as Tim– still soaking wet, walked out of the bathroom with a now dry Jonny, minus his hair. “Can you wait with Ahah whilst your dada gets changed?” Tim asked Jonny. Yep, he had definitely regressed even more if the parental names indicated anything.
“Yea!” Jonny grinned, babbling still as he wandered over to Ashes who handed over Tim’s dry clothes with a chaste kiss– earning an “ewww” from Jonny.
“Okay you little monster.” Ashes smiled as they sat down on Jonny’s bed, “What do you want to do?”
“Mmmm, blocks!” Jonny giggled as he rushed over to the chest of toys he and the crew had brought over the millennia. “You p’ay too Ahah!” Jonny cried out as he started to throw all his blocks onto the floors, all of them different ages and faded colours, but still loved by the little. So, sitting down next to Jonny, Ashes helped build towers and houses for Jonny who destroyed them after construction, making “super scary” monster noises as he did so.
“Da!” Jonny threw his hands in the air as Tim walked out of the bathroom in much drier clothes and much less void of paint on his face, “Come p’ay! P’ease now!” Jonny politely asked. Of course, Tim obliged and sat next to Ashes.
“Has our little calf been too much of a terror?” Tim asked Ashes as xem kissed their head, talking loud enough for Jonny to hear as he rampaged through the mini city Ashes had built for him to destroy.
“Oh definitely, such a scary monster aren’t you, Jonny?” Ashes smiled as Jonny covered his mouth as he giggled, shaking his head. “No?” Ashes gasped with faux dramatics, “Then what do you call all of this destruction?” They swept their hand across the knocked over blocks.
“Not’ing!” Jonny giggled out as he flopped down onto the floor and Tim’s lap, giggling at his lying.
After letting the little calm himself down, Tim checked the time, “Well, surely all this non-destructive monster would like to have lunch?” At the mention of food, Jonny’s head perked up and a toothy grin.
“But, just had break?” He asked, tilting his head in confusion.
Tim shook his head, “You painted for several hours, and bath time took almost an hour. So it is now lunch time.”
“No?”
“Yes.” Tim stifled a laugh at the little’s confusion.
“No?”
“Yes.”
“...Fine. Food!” Jonny stood up on unstable legs, his tail swaying side to side in excitement as he made grabby hands at Tim.
So, getting up off the ground, Jonny grabbed both Tim and Ashes’ hand and they both walked him to the kitchen. Since it was lunch time all the other mechs were also making their way to the kitchen to grab their own food.
In the kitchen was Brian and TS making food whilst Raphaella and a small Ivy sat at the table, Ivy in Raphealla’s lap as she babbled over a book that was laying on the table and Marius was helping set up the table with plates and cutlery, obviously it was going to be a crew lunch.
“Brian, where’s the other high chair?” Ashes asked as they let go of Jonny’s hand and went to search in the kitchen closet. At Brian’s answer of “on the right at the top” Ashes pulled it out and replaced one of the chairs with the high chair after folding it out– which was really a regular dining chair with a tray, but it worked for the littles who couldn’t eat normally at the table.
“Where Nas’ pla’e?” Jonny mumbled as Tim helped walk him over to his chair. Everyone in the kitchen froze.
“Do- do you want to put a plate out for Nastya?” Brian asked, his voice clouded with uncertainty. Even if it had been almost a century since Nastya went Out, it was still an incredibly raw grief for all of them.
Jonny nodded with a hum, “‘Case she come back.” He answered, a sombre look on his face as Tim helped him sit down and clipped the tray above his lap. Brian nodded, carefully grabbed another plate from the kitchen cupboard. Tension slowly lifted as Jonny and Ivy started to babble to each other, Ivy attempting to explain what happened in her picture book whilst Jonny just babbled random words to fill the silence.
Lunch was thankfully an alright affair after that, even with Jonny’s stubbornness towards putting on a bib and cleaning the ketchup off his face. Even if the plate that Jonny demanded be placed next to him “in case Nastya returned” burned a hole in the table, lunch went well.
“Can we watch movie?” Jonny asked as Tim took off his very messy bib– which seemed to have more food than the plate did.
“Yeah of course, calf. What do you wanna watch?” Tim turned to place the bib into the washing basket before turning back to Jonny and unclipped the tray, placing it into the sink alongside Ivy’s to be washed up later. Jonny simply shrugged, mumbling he didn’t know, “Alright, how about I put on a random movie and see if you like it. Alright?” That seemed to work as Jonny nodded and made grabby hands for Tim again.
“Jus’ you dada?” Jonny asked as Tim helped him stand up. Tim had a feeling that Jonny was slowly slipping out of his regression and of course, being the emotionally constipated bastard he was, didn’t want anyone else around.
“Of course, baby.” So, walking Jonny to one of the less used common rooms, Tim sat on the sofa as Jonny cuddled xem, practically sitting on xe’s lap as Tim scrolled through the earth movies that he knew. Soon enough he landed on a random one, Treasure Planet, and the room was filled with the sounds of the movie. But apart from that, the room was quiet as Jonny enjoyed the movie, every so often, the little would repeat a line of dialogue or hum back the soundtrack.
Near the end of the movie, Jonny suddenly shifted off Tim’s lap. “Thanks.” He mumbled, his voice back to the natural rasp Tim knew.
“You don’t need to thank me for looking after you Jonny.” Tim made sure to not let too much emotion into his voice so as to not scare off Jonny.
“Still, thanks asshole.” Jonny grumbled, quickly hugging Tim before speeding out of the common room.
Tim rolled his eyes as he let the movie play itself out. Even if Jonny acted like regressing was the worst thing in the world, xe was still glad xem managed to help care for his little calf, even if just for a few hours.