Work Text:
Today was very stressful for Steve Cobs.
He felt the little stresses from the past couple of months build up, and nothing was making it any better. Mephone4 was shirking his responsibilities, business hasn’t been looking ideal, and more importantly development on Mephone4S hasn’t been proceeding as expected.
Cobs was typing a very strongly worded email to an investor who just wasn’t sold on the idea of a new Mephone. The nerve of them to not contribute their money to something that could change the world forever! The email had become very long, and he was just about to send it when he noticed his hands were trembling.
Cobs took a deep breath, trying to steady his trembling hands lest his stress become too high. He was afraid of what would happen then, as he shook himself to try and get out of this bad mood. He then sends the email, sighing as he immediately opens another email to respond back to an executive.
His fingers flew over the keyboard, but he wasn’t paying much attention to what he was typing. His mind was more occupied with curling up and eating a sugar cookie, which was unusual for him unless…
Wait. He was going to regress. The corncob looked at his hands, which looked more interesting than usual. He curls his fingers, a feeling of intense panic hitting his body like a tsunami. No, he couldn’t, not now. He grips the desk until his knuckles turn white, trying to stay big.
“Damn it…” He muttered, feeling ashamed of himself for having this problem. He hadn’t had urges to regress this strongly since before Mephone4 was created. He wants to go far away from any of the judging eyes he feels staring at him, and that was the breaking point for him.
The now age regressed Steve Cobs begins to cry, his voice high pitched and vulnerable. He covers his face, hiding under the desk to prevent any embarrassment at being perceived like this. He tries to wipe the tears away as they come, making his eyes red and puffy.
Mephone was walking around the headquarters, holding a nondescript box. He was told to generate it by Cobs, and now was looking for the corncob. He hears the sound of loud crying by his office, and is interested. He hadn’t heard Cobs express any other emotion than anger, so with a slightly concerned attitude he opens the door.
“Go away!” The little Cobs yelled louder than Mephone had ever heard him, though his small tone of voice tells him that he doesn’t really mean it.
“Are you okay…?” The phone places down the box and looks under the desk, seeing him in a fetal position. He slowly moves Cob’s hands from his face, seeing from his eyes he was actually crying. He yanks his hands away from his grasp, winding up before giving a swat to his screen.
“Ow!” Mephone yelped, holding the spot on his screen where he was hit. He is suddenly feeling a lot less sympathetic, but has enough sense to not hit his creator back. He stands back up, preparing to leave. “Okay, jeez, I was just asking.”
“Wait.” He says in a tiny, quiet voice, a hand reaching out for his screen. He cleared his throat, trying to go back to his firm, more adult voice. Despite that, there was a lot of weakness in his voice. “I need you to generate something.”
“Yeah?” Mephone kicks the box away and steps back, preparing to generate something. The little Cobs seems to take the opportunity to stand up as well, his glasses crooked as he wobbles from his weak limbs.
“Blue fuzzy blanket, white stars!” He demanded, his voice like a whine as he stepped back to let Mephone generate what he wanted.
The phone at that point knew that there was something wrong with his creator, but didn’t know what. He’s never seen anything like this before, he was acting like a child. Well, he’s acting from what he’s seen of children on television. But he asked him to do something, and so he generated the blanket.
“Finally.” The other object clutches the fuzzy blanket, rubbing it on his cheek in a sensory seeking manner. He let out a vocal stim, before flinching and looking at Mephone with a self conscious look on his face. He pulls the blanket away from him. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
“Uhhh… it’s okay?” The robot said, confused. He didn’t know why he was apologizing, in his eyes he did nothing wrong. Cobs smiled weakly at this, standing idly. He was waiting for Mephone to go somewhere, and he got that wish when he awkwardly left the office.
As Cobs followed him, a blanket clasped in his hands, Mephone hears the footsteps behind him and gets anxious. He turns around, facing him with a confused look.
“Why are you following me?” He asks, reaching out to fix his crooked glasses. Cobs flinches and raises his arms as if he was about to be hit, letting out a tiny whimper as he knocks his glasses to the floor. When he realizes that wasn’t the case he looks afraid.
“P…pick it up. Now.” Any effort he put into trying to be intimidating was wasted by his shaky voice.
“Alright, alright.” He rolled his eyes, leaning and picking up the glasses, putting it on his face. “What’s the matter with you? You’re acting like something’s gonna hurt you.”
“…that’s not important.” He says before getting too deep into bad memories. “What’s important is I have to stay by you. It’s important.”
“You said it was important twice.” Mephone turned around to go to the living room, walking into the doorway while Cobs followed like a lost puppy.
“Shut your mouth.” He hissed, trying and failing to get that sense of power back. They walked to the couch, sitting down as Mephone leaned back and turned on a trashy reality show.
“Change the show! I don't wanna watch this trash!” He whines, reaching for the remote. Mephone pulls it away, and Cobs leans in more.
“No! You’re always trying to make me stop watching this!” He argued back, pushing the other object away by his face. Cobs did not stop in his efforts, leaning in until he fell off the couch.
He stays on the ground for a few moments, before standing up and stomping his foot like an angry toddler. He clenches his fists, looking at the trashy reality show then at Mephone.
“Change it!!!!!” Cobs shrieks, snatching the remote from his hands and changing it to a kids channel. Mephone tried to get the remote back as he flicked through the entire kids channel catalog that Cob’s expensive cable program covered.
“Ugh!” He yells once he gets to the end of the catalog, throwing the remote down to the ground. The remote broke, many pieces flying everywhere. Mephone looked less than amused.
“What was that for?” Mephone stood up, looking angry at Cobs. But Cobs was too angry himself to care much about the yelling, so he yelled back.
“Don’t talk to me!” He puffs out his cheeks, crossing his arms and turning his back to Mephone. “Make a new one!”
“No.” Mephone said sternly, too upset to consider the ramifications of talking back to his creator. After all, it seemed whatever was wrong was making him weaker.
“What?” He turns harshly, getting in his face. “Why not? You’re the creation! I built you! Make a new one!”
“You broke it! You’re the one that got mad and threw it!” He argued back, stepping back so that he wasn't in his face. Cobs grabbed Mephone’s sides and tried to lift him, but was unable to. Mephone grabbed his shoulders and sat him down. “Sit down.”
“Hmph.” Cobs looked at the new kids cartoon, not finding it that bad as he wrapped the blanket around himself. He went from reluctantly watching it to being enthralled in it. He unconsciously starts to flap his hands, doing the same vocal stim when something interesting happens.
Mephone was annoyed that Cobs broke the remote, but didn’t say anything as he did his stims. He doesn’t look at Cobs as he watches his cartoon, not until he tugs at his arm.
“I’m hungry.” Cobs said with a more confident voice than before, more comfortable around his creation in this state.
“What do you want me to do about it?” Mephone responded, looking over to him for the first time in a while.
“Make me a sugar cookie, you fool.” He ordered, pushing him slightly. “A really big one, too.”
Mephone did not like this version of Cobs, but obliged in his request anyways, his screen turning green once again as he generated a big sugar cookie, handing it to him. Cobs took it, beginning to nibble on it as he went back to watching the cartoon. The TV’s blue light washed over both of them, the sound of the cartoon in the background almost hypnotizing to Mephone.
“This show sucks!” The age regressed object complains, snapping him out of his daze when he tugs hard at his arm once again. Mephone sighs, moving away from his yanking hands, realizing he had finished his cookie. “I wanna play. Come.”
Cobs stood up quickly, shedding the blanket and almost falling over from standing up so fast with his weak limbs. After a moment of pause with outstretched arms to try and catch himself, he regains his balance and heads for his office, his hands in raptor position.
Mephone follows, knowing that he would annoy him if he didn’t. It didn’t take long for them to reach his office, Cobs pushing open the door and walking to his computer, sitting down on his office chair and opening his computer.
“So what are you gonna do?” Mephohe asks as the other object minimizes the email draft he had concocted just before regressing, opening up another secret tab of a building and survival game Mephone couldn’t quite read the name of before it loaded.
“Video games.” He responds simply, setting up a new world. This surprised Mephone, Cobs had always been vocal about how much he hated video games. But this day had been full of surprises, and this was one of the least concerning things about whatever was wrong with him.
The phone watched as he began playing the game, the default avatar running through the blocky natural world. The avatar collected wood and stone, clearing a hill so that he could build his house. The age regressed Cobs looked unusually calm playing the game, it looked so boring that Mephohe wanted to fall asleep.
But he was oddly entranced in Cobs building the house in the game. It was crude and not elegant in any manner, which was so unlike him in any matter that Mephone had to keep watching in order to see how it turned out.
As the virtual house begins to near completion, Cobs suddenly blinks, slowly turning to his creation. He looked confused, as he took a moment to examine his surroundings and realized that Mephone was watching him play his video game.
“What on Earth…?” He looks at his hands, feeling a wave of shame wash over him. He regressed again. This quickly turned to anger that his creation had witnessed it.
“Get out!” The now adult Cobs yelled, the vulnerability in his previous voice gone. He felt so embarrassed, his cheeks turning a bright red as he pointed at the door.
“What?” Mephone stepped back, caught off guard at his sudden mood change. He was just getting used to the vulnerable but bratty him.
“I said, get out! And don’t you dare tell anybody about what’s wrong with me!” There was a hint of something in his voice, but Mephone couldn’t tell what it was. However, he knew that Cobs was serious about his office so he backed away in fear.
“What happened to you…?” Mephone was at the doorway, but he was too curious not to ask before leaving.
“It’s none of your business! Get. Out.” He said through gritted teeth, as Mephone ran away from the office. He opens the email draft up, noting that from the amount of spelling errors that the email made barely any sense. He sighs, beginning the long process of proofreading everything.
He begins typing, glad that the spell checker that was installed in the computer made it easier to figure out what he was trying to say. The pit of embarrassment still lingered in his stomach, not going away no matter how hard he tried. This was why he usually regressed by himself, even if he sometimes made impulse purchases. Although, it was nice to have company…
No. He shakes the thought away, despite the fact that it was true. It was way too embarrassing for Mephone4 to see him like that, and he didn’t want anything bad happening due to Mephone’s lazy nature. But it was nice to not be alone for once…
Maybe one day he’ll tell him, if he improves.