Chapter Text
“Get up to your room, now!”, Sapnap shouted, but not too loudly. “You’re grounded.” Punz bit his lip in an effort to not cry.
“I’m sorry..”, Punz whispered. “I’ll pay you back-”
“Do I smell alcohol?”, Sapnap questioned, cutting Punz off. “Have you been drinking tonight?!” Punz scratched the back of his neck guiltily. “Luke, I made the alcohol rule to keep you safe! If you pull that shit again, I’m going to have to kick you out.” Tears welled up in Punz’s eyes before he ran upstairs to his room.
--
Punz didn’t sleep at all that night, he kept teetering between headspaces, never staying in one for more than a minute at a time.
Sapnap’s voice kept swirling in his head. He didn’t wanna get kicked out. This was his home. He liked his “brothers” being only a door or two away. He didn’t wanna leave.
Before Punz knew it, the sun was rising and he heard footsteps out into the hallway, possibly Sapnap, maybe Dream. Dream usually wakes up earlier than Sapnap does. Maybe he could tell Dream what happened, or maybe Sapnap already did. Maybe Dream was already making plans for how to ship Punz back to where he came from.
Before he knew it, tears flooded his eyes, his very tired eyes that didn’t seem to shut at all during the night. He was the worst boy. He wished he never went out with his stupid friends. Punz just wanted to have some fun!
It was beginning to feel like when he was a little boy, his father scolded him for staying up past his curfew when he snuck in late on school nights. He was almost always grounded, he rarely ever got physically punished for it, Punz thanked god.
“Daddy, where ‘unzo?”, Karl asked outside of Punz’s door. Punz sniffled, trying not to cry anymore.
“We can’t go see him right now, baby”, Sapap replied. “Come on, let’s go get some breakfast, yeah?” The blonde got up and grabbed a bag, filling it with various clothes, if he was going to get kicked out, he might as well be prepared.
Then, Punz laid down in his bed and tried to shut his eyes for a little while. When Punz opened his eyes next, he blinked and sat up, and he was face-to-face with Sapnap.
“Good morning”, the ravenette said. Punz decided to keep quiet, he didn’t want to give another reason to be mad at him “I said, “good morning’”. Punz nodded. “Are you regressed?” Punz hesitated before shaking his head slowly. Sapnap noticed the bag of clothes on the floor. “What’s that for?” Punz shrugged. “Come on, Luke, talk to me.”
“Mad at me”, Punz mumbled. “Did bad things, and now you’re mad at me.” Sapnap sighed.
“I’ve had some to cool down, and I would like to hear everything that happened”, he replied. “Would you like to talk now, or after breakfast?”
“After”, Punz said. “Please.” Sapnap nodded.
--
Punz hardly touched his breakfast, his head was pounding too much from not getting barely any sleep. The eggs that Sapnap had cooked lay growing cold on the plate in front of the blonde, next to a piece of toast.
“I feel sick”, Punz mumbled, pushing the plate further away from himself. “Talk now?” Sapnap pushed the plate back towards Punz. “No, Nick. Please.”
“I would like you to eat, please”, Sapnap replied. “Just a few bites is all I ask.” Punz whined. “You didn’t get much sleep last night, I can tell by the way your eyes look.”
“...was in and out of headspaces”, Punz mumbled. “Feeling guilty. Where are the boys?”
“Dream took them out for a little while”, Sapnap said. “Listen, I want to hear you out, okay? So, go ahead, and I would like you to get something in your stomach.” Punz took a deep breath.
“Remember the guy that picked me up in his truck?”, the blonde asked. Sapnap nodded. “His name’s Mike, a fairly recent friend of mine. He said we were going to meet some of his friends at this fairly secluded spot and just have a couple drinks, and you know, just hang out a bit.”
“So you did drink”, Sapnap injected. Punz held his hand up.
“Let me speak”, he replied. Sapnap nodded. “So, after a while, we were all being.. to put it lightly, we were being dumbasses. Before we knew it, the cops showed up. Everyone else ran away before I even had time to react, before I knew it I was being handcuffed and put in the back of a police car. They didn’t even tell me what I did until I was in a stupid jail cell. How was I supposed to know it was private property?”
“..thank you for telling, Luke”, Sapnap said. “I’m sorry I was so harsh on you last night.” Punz nodded.
“I understand, you didn’t want me to go out in the first place”, he replied, shrugging. “You know, I only had two beers by the way. They weren’t even enough to get me even a little buzzed.”
“Wait, back up”, Sapnap said, holding his hand up. “I never said I didn’t want you to go out, in fact, I said the opposite, remember?” Punz shrugged again.
“Even though you said I could go, I could tell you really didn’t want me to”, he replied. “I know you weren’t trying to be a dick or anything, I just hadn’t been away from you since I moved in here.. and started regressing regularly. You were scared.” Sapnap laughed softly.
“How do you know me better than I know myself, Lukas”, he said. Punz looked up at him. “Sorry, tried it out, never calling you that again.” Punz smirked. “So, will you eat something now, for me?” Punz nibbled on the piece of toast. “How are you feeling right now?”
“Tired”, Punz confessed. “If you mean my headspace, I’d say I’m okay with staying Big. I think I just need some rest and I’ll be okay.” Sapnap nodded.
“It’s okay if you want to regress, it’s not good to hold in bad feelings, you know”, he said. “I know you have a lot of unwanted anxiety from last night.” Punz finished the piece of toast. He left the eggs untouched on the plate, fearing they would have been too rough on his stomach.
“Let’s go then.”