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It was something Ryland had been working on for a while as a surprise with the tremendous help of Adrian and the rest of the biodome team. He had seen the way Simon admired the tiny plant Ryland had on the kitchen windowsill, the fascination and admiration in his eyes. Ryland had offered for Simon to take care of it, which he took to in great stride.
Simon had been attentive, watering the planet exactly when it needed it, ensuring that it had enough soil, and at one point asking Adrian to make a bigger pot for it so it could have more room for roots. His gentle care and passion for it was what caused the idea of the surprise.
“Where are we going?” Simon asked as Ryland led him by the hand. Simon had a blindfold over his eyes so he couldn’t spot the surprise. Ryland just hummed slightly.
“We’ll be there soon.” Is the response he eventually gave. Simon rolled his eyes behind the blindfold. He was a little nervous, but he still trusted Ryland.
“Angel you know I trust you but don’t you think the blindfold is a bit much, especially for this far of a walk?” Simon asked but Ryland just hummed again.
“Almost there.” And Simon just sighed. He let Ryland continue to drag him along until Ryland started to slow down. “Okay, I need to open something so stay here real quick.” Ryland let go of Simon’s hand.
“Open something?” Simon asked and he felt Ryland’s hand return to holding his own.
“A door. Okay we’re gonna take a few steps forward and then we’re going to step over a threshold, so take kind of a bigger step.” Ryland instructed as he began to pull Simon a bit more forward. Simon followed his lead, and took a bigger step when told to.
At once Simon could tell that they were somewhere he hadn't been yet, the atmosphere felt cooler, the air felt fresher, and it was a lot quieter than outside. He shivered slightly, not uncomfortable but just used to the warmth from outside.
“Where are we?” Simon asked, but his question was answered when Ryland pulled the blindfold off of him. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust, but when they did Simon couldn’t stop looking around.
It was a greenhouse, a slightly large one at that. There were lots of shelves that had empty pots in them, and one large shelf with several potted plants. There were empty beds in the middle of the room, just waiting for soil and plants. Simon spotted a small sink in the corner next to several different sized watering cans.
He tried to think about when this was made, it hadn’t been mentioned to him before, but he didn’t exactly know if this could be seen from the house. It was hard to tell how far they had walked.
“Angel, what is all this?” Simon eventually asked and Ryland chuckled a bit.
“Well we needed a green house, especially since we’re going to be growing more food soon, so Eridans helped put it together. I thought you might want to help organize and take care of it. You’ve been doing such a good job taking care of the plant inside.” Ryland explained. Simon looked at him with a large expression in his eyes. The idea that Ryland trusted him with something as gentle as this made him so emotional.
“Really?” Simon asked carefully and Ryland nodded. Simon threw his arms around Ryland and hugged him tightly. Ryland chuckled as he hugged Simon back, but stopped when he felt tears on his shoulder.
“Woah, Simon, what’s wrong?” Ryland asked as he tried to pull back from the hug a bit but Simon whined and gripped onto him tighter.
“It’s so nice!” Simon cried and Ryland was just able to tell by the tone of his voice that Simon had regressed. It definitely wasn’t a bad thing, Simon had just gotten so positively overwhelmed in such a short amount of time he ended up crashing hard. Ryland made sure to wrap his arms best he could around Simon to pull him closer.
“Aww baby, I’m so glad you like it, but you’re okay.” Ryland encouraged softly, and he just held onto Simon as he continued to cry for a moment. “You’re okay darling.” He cooed trying to help calm him down, even if he wasn’t upset in a negative way.
“Thank you mama.” Simon mumbled into Ryland’s shoulder as Ryland gently ran his hands up and down Simon’s back. Ryland just hummed softly and he kept trying to ground Simon. It was a lot for him to go from an adult mindset to crashing down, probably close to age two or three.
“You’re so welcome baby.” Ryland said and they stood there for a couple more minutes. Simon eventually pulled his head away so he could look around the greenhouse some more. He sniffed as he looked at the empty shelves and then over to the one that had a few plants already.
“What those?” Simon asked softly as he lifted his hand up to point over towards the shelf. Ryland followed where he was pointing over to the shelf and gave him another small smile.
“Those are the plants that were on the Hail Mary, the Eridians borrowed them so they could properly study the environment they would need in here and returned them once it was built.” Ryland explained and Simon nodded. “You want to go look at them?”
“Mama come with.” Simon said tentatively and Ryland hummed again. Simon was so much more codependent when little, and Ryland couldn’t help but love it.
“Yeah baby, I’ll go with you.” Ryland reassured, and with an arm still wrapped around Simon’s shoulder they walked over to the shelf. Simon clutched onto his arm with one his of own, not wanting Ryland to go anywhere without him.
Simon spent several minutes just staring over the pots on the shelf, the small amount of plants drawing his attention like no other. Ryland just let him look, happy to know that Simon seemed to be enjoying the surprise. Simon eventually reached out and touched a plant leaf with a very careful hand.
“Mama, this needs more space.” Simon told him and Ryland looked down at the plant. It was hard for him to tell what plants needed, but Simon apparently knew.
“Oh yeah?” Ryland asked, he never really had a green thumb so he was kind of glad Simon did. They needed the plants to thrive for more foods, thankfully there were plenty of seeds on the Hail Mary.
“We gots to get bigger pot, more soil.” Simon confirmed.
“Alright then, let’s go grab one then huh? Adrian helped make sure we had plenty of them.” Ryland said and Simon looked at him with another large expression in his eyes.
“Adri help?” Simon asked and Ryland chuckled a bit, Adrian was by far Simon’s favorite Edrian. Them helping on the project was definitely something meaningful to Simon.
“Yep, they wanted to make sure this whole place was perfect for you, down to the pots for all the plants. Maybe we can make a thank you present for them later huh?” Ryland suggested and Simon nodded rapidly with a big grin on his face.
“Gonna make a picture.” Simon confirmed as he still continued to nod.
Simon had found art supplies on the Hail Mary and using spare paper had created hundreds of pictures. Drawing was something meaningful to him, never having the opportunity to in Eden due to lack of resources, so he loved making pictures for people.
The area over by the entrance to the biodome was covered in Simon’s drawings, ones he made when big or regressed. All of the ones he made specifically for Adrian, or Rocky, were made with paints made out of natural resources so the texture was raised enough for them to see it. They were kept in the biodome just so they wouldn’t burn up in the Eridan atmosphere but they were all hung up proudly.
“I’m sure they would love another picture. If we grow some flowers we can use them to help make more paint colors too.” Ryland suggested and Simon’s grin got even wider, if possible. He was so excited to grow more things.
“Let’s go then mama!” Simon said as he dragged Ryland over to the other shelf with the pots and Ryland smiled.
For the next couple of hours Simon led the effort in repotting most of the plants they already had, giving them more space and soil. Ryland truly just followed his example, just happy to be spending time together. By the end all plants were repotted, the beds now had soil for when they brought the seeds in from where they were currently stored in the lab, and Simon was absolutely covered in dirt. Ryland had a bit on his hands, but Simon managed to get some on his forehead.
“Alright baby, what do you say we wash up and then when we go in I can make us some dinner?” Ryland suggested and Simon nodded with a small yawn. “Tired?”
“I having fun mama.” Simon half whined in return and Ryland laughed. Simon always tried to argue that he wasn’t sleepy, even if Ryland wasn’t trying to suggest a nap or bedtime.
“I know you were having so much fun, and I’m so glad you were.” Ryland said as he led Simon over to the sink in the corner. He turned on the water and let it warm up just slightly before he led Simon’s hands under the stream, helping him wash the dirt off. Unfortunately the dirt on his face and rest of his body was going to be a bit harder to clean up.
“Mama, it itchy.” Simon complained as he dragged his now clean hand over his face, getting dirt over his hand again as he smeared it over his face. Ryland fought the urge to laugh at the action.
“I know, how about I can help you take a bath lovebug? Get all clean and smelling good?” Ryland suggested and Simon again nodded with a yawn. “Alright, let’s go inside then.”
“What we havin for dinner?” Simon asked as Ryland began to lead them both out of the greenhouse. Ryland thought for a moment about what they had inside, specifically what little Simon enjoyed eating. Thankfully the Eridans had gotten better at creating food, even if it tended to be like processed Earth food. Simon’s current favorite was fake mac and cheese.
“We could do sandwiches, burgers, or mac and cheese.” Ryland offered and Simon lit up at the idea of his favorite. “I’m guessing mac and cheese?”
“Yes please mama.” Simon agreed politely as they reached the house.
“Sounds good. How about I’ll help you in the bath and after that you can watch a movie or do some coloring while I make dinner.” Ryland planned out, and Simon paused. His trauma around the blood ocean tended to transfer onto any slightly large bodies of water, including the bath, but he trusted Ryland so he eventually nodded. “Alright, go grab some pjs and I’ll start the bath.”
Simon ran off to their bedroom as Ryland went into the bathroom. He got the bath started and poured some bubble bath solution in it, knowing the bubbles made Simon less weary about the body of water. He hadn’t stepped foot in their ocean yet, but the bath was a small step towards that.
Simon walked into the bathroom and set his clothes, which were both just Ryland’s, on the counter. Ryland gave him a small smile as he noticed Simon staring at the water pouring out with a bit of fear. It reminded Ryland of the first time Simon tried a shower, and he had a panic attack thinking he was drowning and dying.
“You want to test the temperature?” Ryland offered, knowing it helped Simon relax a bit around the water, and Simon’s response was to move forward slightly towards the tub. Ryland carefully took Simon’s hand in his own before leading it under the water, Simon relaxing a bit at feeling the water. It wasn’t boiling hot, unlike the blood ocean, so that helped.
“More bubbles please mama?” Simon asked softly and Ryland grabbed the little bottle of solution.
“How can I say no to my sweet baby?” Ryland asked as he poured more into the running water. Simon giggled a bit as he sat on the closed toilet until it was ready. Ryland helped Simon strip down, take his prosthetic arm off, and hop into the tub.
Adrian had crafted bath toys for Simon to use so he began to play with those as Ryland grabbed a wash cloth and some soap. He helped clean Simon up before he went to wipe Simon’s face, which he was not a fan of, but they got through it.
“Can you lean your head back baby? I need to get the dirt out of your hair.” Ryland encouraged as he grabbed a small cup.
“But I playing mama.” Simon complained but he still leaned his head back anyway. Ryland chuckled as he cupped up some water and poured it over Simon’s hair.
“I know, but you don’t want dirt in your pretty hair huh? All itchy and gross?” Ryland said and Simon shook his head and Ryland reached for the shampoo. “Nooo, that’s not fun. So we’ll just clean it up really fast then you can keep playing.”
True to his word Ryland was quick about washing out Simon’s hair, though Simon did close his eyes and just lean into his touch the whole time. Once done Simon went back to playing with the toys.
“I’m going to go get the water started, when I get back we’ll get you out of the tub okay?” Ryland asked and Simon nodded. He left to get the water in a pot on the stove and started it before heading back to the bathroom. Simon was already sitting on the toilet wrapped in a towel when he returned, water all over the floor. “All done playing?”
“Water scared me.” Simon mumbled slightly and Ryland felt bad. The moment he left Simon got scared of the water, he must have rushed out of the tub and that’s what caused all the water to spill.
“I’m sorry baby, are you okay?” Ryland asked and Simon nodded.
“Better with mama.” He agreed and Ryland smiled before giving him a small hug. After a moment he helped Simon get dressed in his pjs before he finished draining the tub. They left the bathroom to head out to the living room and kitchen.
“What do you want to do, watch tv or color?” Ryland asked but Simon just yawned. “How about tv?”
“Spongebob.” Simon mumbled as Ryland led him over to the couch.
“Okay baby, I’ll put on Spongebob.” Ryland agreed, Simon sitting down. Once the movie was pulled up on one of the laptops he set it down next to Simon, grabbing a blanket off the back of the couch and draping it over Simon.
Simon cuddled into the blanket and melted into the side of the couch. Ryland gave him a kiss on the forehead before he went over to the kitchen, finding the water near boiling. He put some pasta in the water and grabbed everything else out he would need for dinner.
When Ryland was done cooking Simon was nearly asleep on the couch. Normally he would just let Simon rest, but he knew that Simon hadn’t had lunch, and after working so hard in the greenhouse he would need some food in his stomach. Ryland brought over two bowls and set them on the coffee table before he sat down next to Simon.
Simon automatically leaned into Ryland’s side when he sat down, eyes closed as he curled into him. Ryland wrapped one hand around Simon as he gently ran it up and down his side.
“Babyyyy, it’s time for dinner.” Ryland encouraged but Simon whined as he buried his face into Ryland’s chest. “I know, but you can sleep after you’re done eating.” Another whine. “You don’t want your mac and cheese to get cold do you?” Which got him to open his eyes.
“I tired mama.” Simon admitted and Ryland gave a small kiss to his forehead, at least he was admitting it.
“I know sweetie, and I know you’re just ready for sleep, but you got to get food in your belly right? You worked so hard in the greenhouse today and did so well, so we got to make sure you get enough to eat.” Ryland told him, which he just got another small whine, but he sat up slightly.
Ryland reached forward and grabbed one of the bowls of mac and cheese off the table. Grabbing the spoon full of pasta he held it up and offered the spoon to Simon, who just opened his mouth and let Ryland feed it to him. Simon leaned back against Ryland, and just let him continue to feed him.
By the time Simon was done eating he was nearly asleep once more. Ryland just let him settle more into his side as he grabbed his own bowl and began to eat. When Ryland finished Simon was completely asleep, so setting the bowl aside he scooped Simon up and carried him to the bedroom.
Ryland set Simon down on the bed before he crawled in next to him. Simon, having half woken up when he was sat down, leaned over and settled himself back onto Ryland’s chest.
“Thank you mama.” Simon happily whispered softly, and Ryland gave him a kiss on the forehead.
“You are so welcome baby, I’m glad you enjoyed your surprise.” Ryland whispered back, and he saw the small smile on Simon’s face before he drifted back off.