Work Text:
Papers littered the desk in organized piles, reports, notes, and blueprints found within the visually messy display. It made sense to Subspace and thats all that mattered.
He stared at his desk, at each paper that sat atop it. He was unsure. It was overwhelming to look at. But he said nothing. He just needs to push through and continue his work.
"Gamma, go fetch me some beakers and measuring cups." Subspace ordered, voice rough on the verge of collapse.
He grabbed a new sheet of paper and pushed the others aside, staring at the intimidating clean slate. The higher-ups wanted him to find a way to create artificial power crystals but he had no idea where to start.
Maybe he should have started by looking at the properties of natural power crystals, or maybe how to create lab grown ones, but it all seemed so overwhelming that it just couldn't make sense. He continued to stare at the paper, nothing coming to his mind.
"Gamma come here." He said to no one, left alone in his empty lab.
He looked up, unsure of where Gamma went. Why did Gamma leave him?! His mind was so distracted he forgot he sent Gamma off to grab supplies, and he started to tear up.
He muttered to himself, "Shit.. Why am I crying! So what if Gamma is gone.."
But he kept looking around frantically. Searching. Wondering where Gamma went. His mind quickly became noticeably fuzzy, the tears began to spill.
He stood up and began looking. Under the desk, in boxes, behind the curtains, spaces Gamma wouldn't even be able to fit. He began to sob loudly.
"Gamma! Where are you? Amma..?! Amma come out! Its.. Its not funny..!" His voice was desperate and whiney, raising more by the second as he searched more.
After a while he gave up and threw himself onto the floor, he cried hard, desperately wiping tears from is face as he continued to sob. Every small noise made him alert, he looked around hoping Gamma would appear and say 'boo! got you!' but it didn't.
His voice turned soft, pleading, "Gamma.. Amma come back..."
He rocked himself on the floor, knees hugged to his chest, nails absent mindedly finding his arm and scratching, a way to self soothe. He felt so small, so alone, so scared. The lab seemed huge to him. The desks loomed over him, the lights were painfully bright. It was all too big and too scary for little Subspace.
As he spiraled further a small click from the lab door could be heard. However Subspace was too deep in his panic to worry. Gamma entered the room with the materials Subspace previously asked for. It immediately noticed its creators distress and quickly set the materials on the desk before making its way to his side.
Making sure to not startle the mentally small man, it stepped in front of him before crouching.
"Hey Subspace, what happened? Why are you on the floor?" Its voice was soothing, gently. It was worried beyond belief and couldn't imagine how scared this kiddo was.
"Amma..?" Subspace lifted his head, seeing the periwinkle glow in front of him. As soon as he registered who it was, he lit up and jumped into its arms. "Amma!! Where were you why you leave me!?" He cried harder, now out of overwhelming relief.
Gamma debated telling Subspace the truth, deciding to simplify it for the smaller man as to not overwhelm him or pull him from his littlespace.
"I was just grabbing something, Im sorry I was gone for so long my star." It ran its padded fingers through Subspace's hair, its body radiating a small, calming whir sound as it soothed him.
Gamma lifted Subspace up, adjusting itself so it could comfortable hold him and began walking through the lab to the attached break room. It noticed the small nail shaped welts in his arms as it carried him.
"Oh Subspace, lets clean these up alright? Do they hurt buddy?"
Subspace only nodded, the tears finally slowing. His face was red and splotchy, his nose runny, eyes tired. He quietly observed Gamma as it did its job, setting Subspace down on the couch, then fetching a warm wash cloth that it used to wipe down the injured arm. It finished by giving each welt a 'kiss'. (It simply pressed where a mouth would be over his arm).
"Feeling a bit better now?"
"Yeah.."
"Thats good my star."
It used the same wash cloth to gently wipe his tear stained cheek then clean his nose. Once again ending the action by planting a kiss on his forehead. That earned Gamma a small smile.
"There we go, all clean!" It cheered, ruffling his hair.
He giggled and smiled more, lifting his arms once again, wishing to be held.
"Oh, you want to be held? We can do that. However.."
It unlocked the compartment in its chest, pulling out a pacifier and small blanket.
"Would you like these?" It asked softly. Subspace responded with an enthusiastic nod and a quick yank to the blanket, pulling it from Gamma's arms.
The robot placed the pacifier in its creators mouth, then lifted him up like he wanted. It walked around the break room soothing Subspace as the exhaustion caught up to him. Worrying and crying took a lot out of a kid, and he soon fell asleep holding the blanket, slowly sucking on the pacifier.
Once he did, Gamma sat down and rocked him, awaiting the moment he woke