[title from the song Home by Edith Whiskers]

2,000+ WORDS BABY!! I MIGHT BE WRONG BUT I THINK THIS IS THE LONGEST CHAPTER I'VE HAD SO FAR

ALSO, 3RD DAY IN A ROW?! I'M ON A ROLL U GUYS

I'm also addicted to little Marcy 😋 it's too fun it's literally like free therapy. So yeah enjoy

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"Marce, you're stressed out of your mind right now."

"I'm not."

Anne groaned, glancing at Sasha for help, who only shook her head and shrugged.

"You've literally been working on this one comic for two days now! Have you even slept?" Sasha asked, exasperated.

"I have slept! I slept four hours last night, and I took a thirty-minute nap yesterday! I don't need more than that", Marcy retorted. "Besides, I need to get this chapter out before Wednesday! I was late to updating last week, I can't be late again."

Anne stared at her in shock. "Four hours, Marcy? That's not nearly enough! Your comic can wait!"

"Please, Mars?" Sasha added, moving in front of her tablet so she couldn't see what she was working on.

"I can't, you guys, seriously. I want to, I really do, but..."

Sasha snapped out of her frown, grinning maliciously at Anne.

Marcy just stared at her straight-faced. "You're planning something, I don't like the look on your face."

"Are you sure you don't want to take a little break, Mars-bars? Watch some cartoons and cuddle?" Sasha sing-songed.

"I know what you're doing. It's not working."

"Yeah, c'mon, Mars! We could have ice cream, do some coloring... read a story..." Anne added.

"It's not going to work, stop it!"

Anne pouted and ruffled Marcy's hair. "Man, I really wanted to color! Do something other than this, you know. Fun stuff!" She sighed. "This isn't fun, Mars, aren't you bored by now?"

"I'm- I'm fine, not bored."

"You hear that Sash? Guess we should just go and do something else, since Marcy's clearly having too much fun. We can go have fun on our own."

Marcy frowned and froze in place, watching from the corner of her eye as the two made their way out of the room with exaggerated pouts on their faces.

"Fine!" Marcy shouted back at them, practically throwing her pencil down. "I'll take a break, that's what you want, right?"

"Aww, see, we knew you wanted to! C'mon Mars-Bars, let's do something fun! What do YOU want to do?" Sasha asked, softening her tone.

"I don't know." Marcy pouted. She might've given into taking a break, but she wasn't regressing. She was big, and she didn't need to. She didn't need to rely on childish things for comfort.

"C'mon, we could do so many things! Watch cartoons, Disney movies, color...", Sasha began to list off.

"We might've even gotten you something a while ago, I think you'll really wanna see it, Mars!" Anne whispered.

"You... got me something?" Marcy's angry expression faded into one of eagerness.

"Certainly did! I don't know if you'd want to see it, though."

"No, I wanna! I mean- sure, I'll see", Marcy coughed. Smooth.

"Let's go downstairs, okay bud?"

"Mmh..." Marcy grumbled, trying to keep her composure. She really wanted to see what they had gotten her, but it was surefire to make her slip. The stupid pet names were already putting her on the brink of regressing.

They got to the living room, and Marcy plopped down on the floor. Anne pulled out a package from the closet, making her wonder when they even got it and why they had kept it hidden for so long.

"We wanted to wait until you were little again to show you", Sasha murmured, answering her unspoken question.

"'M not little, but okay. Whatever, you can show me I guess", Marcy grumbled sarcastically. Sasha smirked knowingly.

"Okay, you wanna see what it is Mars?" Anne grinned with excitement, setting the box on the floor in front of her.

"I guess so", Marcy sighed, already beginning to tear into it. She couldn't contain her excitement, struggling to keep up her facade.

She opened the box slowly, peering inside.

"Well, what's in it, bud?"

Marcy hesitated, but grabbed the first item in the box and held it out. With a gasp, she held it up to show Anne and Sasha what she had found, even though they had been the ones to give it to her.

"What is that, Mars?" Sasha chided, ruffling her hair gently.

"Bunny! S' a bunny rabbit!"

"That's right! Do you like it?"

Marcy stared at the purple stuffed animal before hugging it tightly to her chest, nodding excitedly. She was too far gone, now. Stupid Anne, stupid Sasha for doing this. They knew she'd regress, they'd wanted her to.

She wasn't going to complain, though. She was happy, and they looked relieved too. Really relieved.

"There's more, bud!" Anne exclaimed.

"More?" she echoed, staring up at her. Anne nodded in response.

Slowly, Marcy reached back into the box, keeping the bunny tucked safely in her arm.

"What do you think, is it okay? I know you've never had one, but... y'know, we figured it'd be useful, right? If you don't like it, it's okay!" Sasha explained in a hurry.

Marcy stared at the item in her hands, mouth agape. A green pacifier, custom made with her name and decorated with little gemstones. It was perfect. She'd wanted one, she'd needed one, but hadn't ever known how to ask or bring it up.

She couldn't find the right words, so instead, she leapt up onto the couch and pulled Anne and Sasha into a hug so tight they could barely breathe.

"I'm taking that as a yes", Anne snorted, patting Marcy's head affectionately.

Marcy pointed to it hurriedly with wide eyes.

"You want it right now, is that what you're asking?"

"Open! Open please!" Marcy repeated, continuing to point to it. Sasha got up to grab scissors to open the packaging, returning quickly and handing it back. The second she got it back, she stuck it in her mouth happily, giggling.

"You like it?" Sasha laughed.

Marcy giggled again and nodded into her bunny. As quickly as it had come, though, her smile faded into a frustrated pout. Sasha and Anne stared at her in confusion.

Marcy whined and tugged on the collar of her shirt, trying hard to get them to understand.

"Your clothes?"

Marcy whined again, nodding.

"You want to change into comfy stuff, huh?"

She nodded desperately, reaching out to be helped up.

The two helped Marcy back up the stairs, going through their closet for something that would suffice.

"You want this?" Sasha would ask softly to each of Marcy's clothing items, resulting in a quick shake of the head.

Finally, Sasha decided to just ask her what she wanted.

Marcy pointed to Sasha's hoodie hanging in the closet.

"You want my hoodie?"

"Mmhm!" Marcy hummed around her pacifier, grinning.

"Okay, then. Do you want help or can you get it?" Anne added gently.

"Me!" Marcy pointed to herself, handing her bunny to Anne with a stern look and an incoherent babble. Anne somehow got the memo to watch it for her. She quickly grabbed the hoodie from Sasha and rushed off to the bathroom to change.

Sasha smiled at Anne as the two waited patiently.

She returned wearing a hoodie that was about three sizes too big for her, going down just past her knees.

"You're so cute, marbles!" Anne gasped, handing the bunny back to her and smoothing out her messed-up hair. Sasha ruffled it back up with a smirk aimed toward Anne, causing Marcy to giggle harder, leaning into the touch.

"Now that you're comfy again, do you want to go play?"

Marcy nodded enthusiastically, grabbing onto both Anne and Sasha's hands to be led back downstairs. They dragged out a box of toys from the closet, kept there for times when Marcy was little.

Marcy immediately dumped all of them out, sorting through them to find exactly what she was looking for.

"Tower!" She exclaimed, pointing to the blocks. She dumped the blocks from their bin and began stacking them as carefully on top of each other as she could.

After a moment, she looked back up at Anne and Sasha with a blank expression, a silent ask for them to help.

"What kind of tower are we building?" Anne asked.

"Tall!" Marcy shouted, reaching her hands up as high as they could go to show the extent of how high she wanted it.

Anne laughed and she and Sasha began helping her stack the blocks one by one on top of each other, being extra careful to not knock them down on accident.

Sasha appreciated the routine they had set. It was like therapy for not only Marcy, but for all three of them. Sasha and Anne enjoyed looking after Marcy just as much as she enjoyed being looked after.

Having an escape from everything- work, stress, especially their negative memories from Amphibia- helped all of them more than anything. They had been doing this since before they had even gone to Amphibia.

For a while, Sasha didn't fully understand. She didn't find it weird, but she felt so awkward sometimes. She had never been very good with kids, she'd never known what to do or what to say. She'd allow Anne to take over in looking after Marcy for the most part, nodding along awkwardly and watching as the two played.

Over time, however, Sasha quickly joined Anne as Marcy's caregiver. Sasha adored looking after her. They always made the time for it, no matter what. The three fell into a steady routine, and it helped all of them.

It was their routine, and it was safe.

"Last one, Marce!" Anne cheered.

The tower was almost as tall as Marcy herself. She grabbed the very last block, and very, very carefully set it on top. She gasped when she succeeded, looking back at her creation with pride.

"It's so tall, Mars-bars! You're so clever!"

Marcy grinned and nodded along happily.

"What do you want to do now, bud?" Sasha questioned.

Marcy carefully considered the question, squinting at the tower as she weighed the options.

She suddenly pushed it over, exploding into a fit of giggles at the mess. She immediately bent back down to start rebuilding it before Anne stopped her.

"We need to clean it up; it's time for dinner, okay?"

Marcy hummed in response and began gathering up all the blocks she could find into her arms, neatly stacking them back into their bin.

When she finished, she looked up to Anne for approval, pointing at the neat pile.

"Very nice job, Marcy! So clever!"

Sasha nodded in agreement, going to put the bin back in the basket of toys.

"What do you want for dinner?" Anne asked. Marcy just shrugged, reaching her arms up as Sasha walked back over. She complied and lifted Marcy, following Anne into the kitchen to find something to eat.

"Sashy's strong", Marcy mumbled with a giggle.

"You bet I am! You hear that, Anne?" Sasha agreed, flexing her arm.

"Mmhm. Sure you are." Anne scoffed. Sasha gasped in mock offense, shaking her head.

"Can you believe her, Marcy?"

Marcy shook her head with a pout, pointing an accusing finger at Anne.

"See? Marcy knows I'm strong!"

"Uh-huh. Well, Marcy also needs to know what she wants for dinner."

Sasha rolled her eyes, but walked over to the pantry to help Marcy pick something out.

"Okay, we're gonna list some stuff off here. Stop me if you hear something you want, got it?"

"Mmhm!"

"Alright. Mac & cheese, chicken nuggets, spaghetti-"

Marcy stopped her suddenly, pointing.

"Spaghetti?"

A nod.

"Alright Anne, spaghetti it is!" Sasha shouted back.

Anne was able to finish making it quickly, bringing three plates over to the table for them. Marcy finished almost as quickly as it was given to her, frowning when Sasha tried to wipe her face and hands off for her.

"Story?" She asked while trying to shove Sasha away.

"You only get a story if you clean up, Mars", Anne remarked, much to Marcy's dismay. She let Sasha finish before looking back to Anne hopefully, smiling when she received a nod.

Before Sasha and Anne could even finish putting everything away, Marcy was already rushing back up the stairs to pick out a story to read. She looked across her bookshelf before deciding on a book about kittens she had read hundreds of times, settling under the blankets while Anne and Sasha followed her upstairs.

"This book again?"

Marcy nodded, her smile unfaltering.

"Okay, then", Sasha shrugged, she and Anne settling under the blankets next to Marcy and beginning to read. Marcy curled into her, leaning against her chest with her pacifier and bunny.

They didn't so much as reach the second page before Marcy was out cold. Sasha and Anne gave one another a smile and sighed.

Their routine was perfect; neither of them would have it any other way.

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I am cringe but I am free