Chapter Text
The Toy Soldier whined in annoyance as it marched down the corridors of the Aurora. It was stuck between headspaces– but not one of an adult and a child, but one of an adult and a little puppy.
If it was in its usual regressed headspace it could go find Brian or anyone on the ship to lead it to Brian, but since it wished to be a small puppy who could be cuddled, loved and played with, it needed to find Tim.
Since Tim first found it pet regressed, he had promised TS that not only would he keep it a secret by its request but also he would be its caregiver.
So that's where Toy was now, wandering the corridors for Tim, it lacked any of its regression gear which made it pretend to be sad even more.
“Toy?” It froze as it heard Brian, “You okay, Sapling?” Brian's voice was low and calm, obviously he must have heard The Toy Soldier's whines and seen its slightly hunched over posture. To Brian, Toy was in its younger headspace.
But the fog that drifted within its head made The Toy Soldier afraid of being found out so it ran.
“Wha- Toy!” Brian cried after it as it ran down the corridor after it.
Finding a random supply cupboard, The Toy Soldier threw itself into it, shutting the door, if it had tear-duct it would have tears soaking into its wooden face as fake lungs heaved with air it attempted to breathe in.
“Toy, baby. You okay?” It heard Brian's voice, but it didn't want Brian it wanted Tim!
But puppies can't speak so it could only whine as the fake sound of a sob crawled up its throat.
“Are you able to knock on the door for me, Sapling?” Confused, The Toy Soldier knocked its paw on the door, “Perfect, now, can you knock twice for yes and once for no?” Even with its clouded mind, it could still make sense of Brian's request so it knocked it's paw twice.
“Well done, baby.” It heard Brian sit down on the other side of the door. “Did something upset you?”
One knock.
“Okay…did I do anything to upset you?”
Again, one knock.
“Do you want me to take care of you?”
One knock.
“Do you want to be left alone?”
A very loud and resounding one knock.
“Do you want someone else to look after you?”
Two knocks.
Brian couldn't deny the feeling of betrayal in his heart, whilst everyone on the ship had multiple caregivers, The Toy Soldier was the only one to have one, that one being Brian. For as long as it had been regressing, Brian had been it's one and only caregiver. So the thought it wanted someone else did bring Brian some amount of emotional pain.
“Alright, I'm going to name the crew and just knock when I say the name of the person you, alright sapling?” Slowly going through the crew, Toy stayed silent before Brian said Tim's name.
A single knock.
Metallic lungs inhaled sharply with jealousy, but Brian made sure to make it too obvious, “Alright, I'll go get xem.”
The whine that filtered out of the cupboard tore Brian’s heart in two, “I know baby, but I won't be gone long.” Getting up from the floor, Brian sped along the corridors of the Aurora, heading towards the armoury, hoping that Tim was in there.
And thankfully she was. Surrounded by taken apart guns and lasers, Tim sat in the middle of the armory cleaning parts of said guns and lasers.
“What can I do for you, drumbot?” Tim asked, not looking up from xem's guns.
“The Toy Soldier is asking for you.” Brian tried his best to keep any sort of animosity fuelled jealousy out of his voice, “It’s regressed.”
For a moment, Tim looked confused, knowing just as well as anyone that Brian was Toy's only caregiver by request of the soldier, but then realisation overtook the confusion.
“Right- yeah of course.” Tim placed down the gun part he'd been cleaning, “Lead the way.”
And so Brian walked down the corridors, leading Tim to the supply cupboard.
“Could- could you stay here, just for now?” Tim asked, stopping Brian whilst they were still out of ear-shot of the cupboard. Keeping his face neutral, Brian nodded.
Technically, he knew it was wrong to turn up his hearing in order to listen in, but he needed to know what was wrong with his baby, so as Tim walked to the cupboard and knelt down, Brian subtly turned up his hearing and leant back against the wall, making it appear as if he wasn’t listening.
“Hey, poppet, you oka-” Tim didn’t even get to finish xem's statement as the supply cupboards door swung open and Toy practically flung itself to Tim, stuffing it's face into Tim's stomach whilst it tried itself best to squeeze its body onto his lap, wrapping its arms tightly around him. “Hey, hey, you're okay poppet, you're okay.” Tim reassured as The Toy Soldier practically clawed its way into Tim’s skin.
And by God if that didn't make Brian jealous.
“Are you just a little puppy?” Brian's ears perked up at that.
With no movement or sound from Toy, Tim asked again, “I need to know if you're a puppy, poppet, just a simple shake or nod.” At that, The Toy Soldier nodded its head. “Good job pups.”
For a moment, confusion clouded Brian's mind until he remembered something from The City; how Jonny had spent the majority of the time floating between not only age regression but also pet regression after an unknown event (to the rest of the crew) caused him to break. Brian was the only one to be made aware of the pet regression when he went to visit Ashes and Tim once with The Toy Soldier after it's own traumatic experience and saw Jonny deep within that puppy headspace.
Subtly looking over at his baby, Brian felt pangs of guilt, did he do something wrong that made Toy believe it couldn't tell him about that part of it's regression? Why did it feel the need to hide that part? And how did Tim know? What has Brian done wrong to his little Sapling?
Watching from the corner of his eyes, Brian watched as Toy's head lifted up slightly as its hands went up to its head, mining ears atop its hair.
“Do you want your gear, poppet?” At an affirming ‘yip’ Brian couldn't help but smile at the cuteness of it. “Well, before you do, can you answer a question for me, pups? Do you want Brian to be here also or just me?”
Brian had to suppress the urge to flinch at the mention of his name. Quickly he filtered his hearing back down and made it seem like he wasn't watching and listening in on the two, so he didn't see Toy's answer.
“Brian!” Tim then called over, “Can you come here real quick.” Xe asked, and so Brian did. He sat down on the floor just beside Tim and Toy, trying his hardest to keep the jealousy of how tight his Sapling was hugging Tim out of his heart.
“Are you okay with me telling Brian about it?” Tim quietly asked The Toy Soldier, stroking a hand through its hair. With a quiet nod from it, Tim turned towards Brian.
“So, a few decades back, when you were on Fort Galfridian, Toy didn't come to one of our practices I drew the short straw on going to find it. And in its room I found this cute little puppy,” Tim kissed Toy's head, making the little giggle with joy, “All alone in its room, and I looked after it. Afterwards we talked and it said it pet regressed sometimes but for reasons it couldn't explain it was ashamed of it and was scared of us finding out.”
“So you became it's caregiver for when it pet regressed.” Brian finished, lifting an unsure hand to stroke Toy's hair. Thankfully, the little one leant into Brian's metal hand and shifted from Tim's lap to Brian's. That movement helped to quell any jealousy and thoughts that he had done something wrong.
“Do you want to get your gear, Sapling?” Brian asked Toy who nodded. So, picking up his little puppy, Tim and Brian walked to Toy’s room.
Walking into it’s room, Brian sat on it’s bed whilst Tim riffled through it’s cupboard and pulled out a pair of reddish-brown ears and tail on a belt and an extremely fluffy oversized red jumper and a pair of shorts.
“Do you want help getting changed, poppet, or do you want to do it yourself?” The Toy Soldier answered by grabbing its regression gear and sprinting towards its bathroom.
At that, Tim sat down next to Brian, “It’s alright to be jealous, you know?”
“Jealous- I’m not jealous.” Brian scoffed.
“Oh but you are, drumbot.” Tim laughed, pressing a brief kiss to Brian's cheek, “I know I was when Ashes became another primary caregiver for Jonny back on The City.”
Brian bit on his lip as he thought, it was true that after their time on The City, Ashes had become another main caregiver for Jonny, and it seemed Tim was completely fine and in favour of it. And of course, the gunslinger didn't get jealous at all, so the thought she did because of Ashes was definitely something.
“It took a lot of time and talking for me to be okay with sharing my calf, but eventually I understood that having Ashes be there for Jonny was better for him. Toy obviously still needs you, you're the one who's helped it the most, you're the one it trusts the most. I can't replace that trust it has in you, Bri.” Tim's voice was soft on Brian's ears, making sure each word rang true in his heart, so not a word could be misunderstood.
“It'll take time to share that responsibility you've taken up for a millennia, and that's okay.” Tim kissed Brian's metallic hair, cupping his cheek.
Brian let his head drop into Tim's collarbone with a content sigh, “It'll take time.” He repeats.