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It all started the first week Punz moved in with the boys. He was getting more comfortable with regressing and with the other two Littles. The three boys were playing in the living room when Punz started to get hungry.
“Papa!”, he whined. Karl stopped what he was doing and looked over at Punz, tilting his head to the side in confusion. Sapnap walked into the living room.
“Yes, Punzo?”, he asked. Punz dropped the block that was in his hand and pouted.
“Hung’y”, Punz replied. Sapnap nodded.
“What do you want to eat my little Punzo?”, he asked. Punz shrugged. “How about some grapes and bananas cut up?” Punz nodded.
“P’ease”, he replied.
“Karl, Gogs, do you guys want something to eat?”, Sapnap asked. George shook his head and continued to play with his baby doll. Karl continued to look confused, but he also shook his head at his Caregiver’s questions. Sapnap nodded and went back into the kitchen. Punz finally looked over at Karl.
“W’at?”, he asked. Karl got so frustrated and confused that he couldn’t use words anymore so he settled for just gesturing wildly between Punz and the kitchen. “W’at?!” Karl huffed.
“Dat no’ Papa dat’s Daddy!”, he exclaimed. “No Papa! No Papa!” Punz frowned. He had no idea what he did wrong. Sapnap was his Papa. George shushed Karl then gestured to his baby doll. Karl huffed and then screamed as loud as he could.
George burst into tears because of the volume, Punz burst into tears because Karl yelled at him, and finally, Karl burst into tears because of his immense frustration and confusion. Sapnap immediately heard the crying and went sprinting into the living the same time Dream ran down the stairs. Dream scooped George up while Sapnap bent down in front of Karl and Punz.
“Shh.. calm down”, Dream tried to soothe the boy in his arms. “You’re okay, buddy boy.” George took some deep breaths, but his ears kept ringing.
“Karl, deep breaths, honey”, Sapnap soothed. Sapnap looked over at Punz and realized that the mentally younger boy wasn’t breathing as he should. “Punzo, you gotta breathe, buddy.” Punz sobbed out one big breath. Dream gestured quietly to the kitchen to let Sapnap know he was going in there to calm George down, and to let Sapnap calm the other two Littles down.
“Papa”, Punz mumbled, burying himself in Sapnap’s neck. Karl was about to hit Punz, but Sapnap quickly grabbed his wrist.
“Karl, we do not hit”, Sapnap said sternly. “You know better than that.” Karl whined and hit his thigh with his free hand. “Karl, we use our nice hands. Would you like a timeout?”
“No, no!”, Karl pleaded. “P’ease!” Sapnap sighed.
“I’ll be right back, okay?”, he asked. Karl nodded as Sapnap picked Punz up and took him to the kitchen, leaving Karl alone in the living room. “Can you tell me what happened, Punzo?”
“Kawl yewwed an’ tol’ me yous not Papa”, Punz explained. “Den got frust’ated and yewwed mowe, makeded Gogy cwy. Meanie Kawl.” Sapnap’s face softened.
“He told you I’m not your Papa?”, he asked. Punz nodded. “Punzo, I am your Papa, buddy, you know that, right?” Punz shrugged. “Hey, I’ll be right back, okay? I have to talk to Karl.” Sapnap turned to Dream, who was still trying to get George to calm down. “Can you watch him just for a second?” Dream nodded.
“Papa?”, Punz asked. “P’ease don’ be mean ta Kawl. He no mean it.” Sapnap nodded and went back into the living room.
“Karl?”, Sapnap asked as he walked into living room and saw Karl curled up in a ball, a stim he used when he was feeling overwhelmed. Karl whined when he saw Sapnap. “I just need to talk to you for a minute, you’re not in trouble.” Karl uncurled himself and looked back up at Sapnap. “Karl, did you tell Punz that I wasn’t his Papa?” Karl shook his head.
“Tol’ ‘unzo ou was Daddy, not Papa ”, he replied. “‘cause you not Papa .” Sapnap sighed and kneeled down to better talk with Karl.
“I know it must be confusing, buddy, but I am Punzo’s Papa”, Sapnap said. “Yes, I am Punz’s Caregiver, but he felt more comfortable calling me ‘Papa’ rather than ‘Daddy’, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Has ta cawl you ‘Papa’?”, Karl asked. Sapnap shook his head. “Otay..”
“I am going to have to put you in timeout, and you know why?”, Sapnap asked. Karl sighed and nodded. “Alright, buddy, five minutes in the timeout corner starting now.” Karl hurried to the timeout corner as Sapnap went back into the kitchen. “Everything’s okay, buddy.” Punz clapped happily. “Do you want that fruit now, buddy?” Punz nodded. “Alright, coming right up.”
--
About a week later, things were going downhill again with Punz and Karl right when the Caregivers thought things were getting better. In an effort to make Punz feel more comfortable regressing and everything, Sapnap was paying extra attention to Punz, and that did not make Karl feel good, it made him think some things.
“I fink Daddy’s rep’acing me”, Karl huffed as he put another block on his growing block tower. George shrugged and continued to “feed” his baby doll. “I was bein’ meanie an’ now Daddy no wike me.” Tears welled up in his eyes.
“Sappy woves you”, George replied. “A wot. Why he rep’ace oo?” Karl whimpered and covered his mouth with his hand as tears spilled down his cheeks. “Kawl? Kawl!” George hopped to his feet, dropping his baby doll in the process, then ran to the bottom of the stairs and shouted. “Sappy! ‘ome! ‘ome!” Sapnap heard George from his room and he barreled down the stairs.
“What, Georgie?”, he asked. George pointed to the living room. “Use your words, honey.”
“Kawl sad!”, George replied, impatiently. “He’p!” Sapnap ran past George to the living and saw Karl laying on the ground, his thumb stuck firmly in his mouth with tears rolling down his cheeks.
“Karl, honey, what happened?”, Sapnap asked, sitting next to Karl on the floor. Karl immediately climbed onto Sapnap’s lap. “Karl?”
“... re’pacing me”, Karl mumbled. “Wike ‘unzo bet’er.” Karl gripped Sapnap’s shirt for dear life. “P’ease, don’ wanna weave.”
“Oh, buddy”, Sapnap replied. “You got yourself all worked up because you thought Punzo was replacing you?” Karl shook his head vigorously.
“No! No!”, Karl exclaimed. “Kawl ‘tupid! ‘tupid! ‘tupid! ‘tupid!” Sapnap ran his hands through Karl’s curly hair.
“Shh.. honey”, he said softly. “Try not to be too loud, honey, Punzo taking a nap.” Karl sniffled. “Why didn’t you tell me you were having these big feelings?” Karl shrugged.
“‘rain being meanie ‘rain”, Karl replied. “I wike ‘unzo as my brover, bu’ ‘m jus’ scawed.”
“I hate when you have meanie brain, buddy”, Sapnap said, rocking him and Karl back and forth gently. “But you need to come to me when you first have those feelings, bottling those feelings could lead to some bad things.” Karl nodded. “By the way, you are in no way stupid, those feelings are normal. Maybe when you’re Big you can talk to Punz about the situation, and we can talk about it when you’re Big.”
“Otay, Daddy”, Karl replied. Karl wrapped his arms around Sapnap. “Daddy ‘usy?”
“I don’t think I’m busy honey”, the shorter boy said. “Did you want some Daddy/Karl time?” Karl nodded. “We can do that, honey. Do you wanna play some Minecraft?” Karl nodded again.
“Yes, p’ease!”, he smiled. Sapnap got up and then hoisted Karl up onto his hip.
“Minecraft time”, Sapnap said as he carried Karl up the stairs. Karl giggled.
“‘inecraf’ ‘ime!”, Karl mimicked. Sapnap chuckled as he reached his room and sat Karl down on the gaming chair. “Dweam SMP?”
“Yeah, buddy, we can play on there, but we have to make sure no lore is going on”, Sapnap replied. Once the boys had confirmation that it was safe to go on the server, Sapnap got Karl onto the server and watched as the Little wandered around aimlessly. Kar looked over at Sapnap every so often to make sure his Daddy was still paying attention to him.
“Daddy”, Karl started.
“Yes, Karl?”, Sapnap asked. Karl smiled.
“Wove me?”, he asked. Sapnap smiled and pinched Karl’s cheek softly.
“Of course I love you, Karl”, he replied. Karl turned back to the computer, satisfied, and continued to play the block game.