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“Come on, guys”, Sapnap said, ushering the three Littles out of the house and into the car, along with Dream. The Littles and Caregivers were on their way to a local festival that their area held every summer.
“Daddy!”, Karl screeched from the back seat. Sapnap looked in the rear view mirror at him.
“Yes, Karl?”, he asked. Karl kicked his feet happily.
“Ge’ cott’n can’y?”, Karl replied. Sapnap sighed as he pulled out of the driveway. “P’ease, Daddy?”
“We’ll see, sweetheart”, Sapnap said. “If we do get cotton candy, we’ll get it last before we leave.” Karl pouted but nodded, busying himself with his car toys.
“‘m ‘cited”, Punz mumbled, trying to catch Sapnap’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “Papa ‘cited?” Sapnap did meet Punz’s eyes and he smiled softly.
“I am so excited, Mr. Punzo”, he replied. “Georgie, are you excited, honey?” George whined and pulled a blanket over his face.
“‘m tired”, he muttered. Sapnap chuckled softly.
“We may have gotten him up a tad bit earlier than usual”, Dream shrugged. “Or maybe we made the mistake of getting him up, we could of just let him sleep while got ready. Now I feel bad.” Sapnap scoffed playfully.
“He’ll get over it”, he replied. “What are you most excited for this year?” Dream shrugged.
“I’m not sure”, he said. “I think I’m most excited to see the Littles have fun and enjoy themselves, don’t you?”
“Certainly”, Sapnap said, making a turn, trying to find a parking space. “I understand how hectic it’s been as the boys have adjusted to this new lifestyle we have, especially Luke.” Sapnap looked back at the boy who was poking George. “Punzo, hands to yourself, please.” Punz frowned, but obeyed, putting his hands at his sides. Without taking too much time, Sapnap found a close-ish parking spot and the 5 boys got out of the car. “Can we get an age check before we get the fun started?”
“Feewin’ five”, Karl said. Punz nodded.
“Punzo too”, he said. George blushed.
“F’ee”, he said, clearly embarrassed that he was feeling so much younger than the other two boys. Sapnap nodded, satisfied.
“Papa, ‘m hung’y”, Punz whispered sheepishly. Sapnap nodded.
“We can find something for you, Punzo”, he promised. “Are any of you boys hungry too?” George shrugged and rubbed his eyes, while Karl nodded.
“Ge’ cott’n can’y?”, Karl asked, hopefully. Sapnap smiled and ruffled Karl’s hair.
“No, not right now, buddy”, he replied softly. Punz gasped softly as he pointed to a food truck that sold a variety of fried foods, quickly pulling on Dream’s arm.
“Woah, Punzo”, Dream said, resisting Punz’s pulling. “I see it, sweetheart, and we can certainly go over there, just be patient, little bee.” Sapnap jerked his head to look at Dream, mouthing “ little bee? ” Dream shrugged and let himself to pulled by Punz and George to the food truck.
“Dweam, can has ‘dog?”, Punz asked, tugging on Dreams sleeve. It took a moment for Dream to realize that Punz meant ‘corndog’, but then he nodded.
“Sure you can, bud”, Dream replied. “What do you want, Georgie?” George pointed shyly to the big bucket of fries. “Alright.” Once the Littles and Caregivers ordered and got their food, they found a spot to eat at a picnic table to eat.
“Well, not that we’re getting our tummy’s full”, Sapnap started to say, feeding George a french fry. “What do you boys want to do?” Punz tilted his head and thought for a moment.
“More nummies!”, he exclaimed, giggling. Dream ruffled Punz’s hair and chuckled. “No, no, no mowe nummies.”
“That’s right, we can revisit the nummies later”, Dream replied. Karl tugged on Sapnap’s sleeve.
“What, honey?”, he asked. Karl huffed and pointed to something down a little ways from them. “Use your words, baby.”
“Face pain’in’”, Karl said, still pointing. “P’ease, Daddy?”
“We can do face painting if that’s what you want, sweetheart”, Sapnap replied, brushing some of Karl’s hair out of his face. “What about you boys? Do you want your face painted?” George shook his head while Punz nodded.
“I get bee!”, he exclaimed, having to be gently shushed by Sapnap. Karl patted Punz’s head gently.
“Yes, ‘unzo, ‘ou ge’ bee”, he replied, which made Sapnap and Dream both chuckle. “Daddy, pain’ now?”
“I can take the boys over and get their faces painted while you stay here with George?”, Dream suggested. Sapnap nodded and gave Dream a thumbs up, feeding George another fry.
The three boys ran off to the face painting booth while Sapnap stayed and fed George a little more before the Little got full.
Dream, Punz, and Karl came back a while later, Dream had a little smiley face painted on his cheek, Punz had three little bees on his cheek, and Karl had a little frog on his cheek.
“You should go get your face painted”, Dream said, sitting back down at the picnic table. “They’re really nice over there.” Sapnap chuckled softly.
“There’s a line about a mile long now”, Sapnap replied. “You boys look amazing.”
“Fank oo”, Punzo blushed.
“Mhm! Thankies, Daddy”, Karl added. “Wha’ now?”
“I was going to suggest we walk around for a bit”, Sapnap replied. “How does that sound?”
“I thought I would take the boys over to the bouncy house that I saw”, Dream said. “How about that, Georgie?” The Little looked over at him and clapped his hands.
“Fink I’wl jus’ stay wif’ Daddy”, Karl replied. Dream nodded.
“Punzo go!”, Punz exclaimed, again, having to be shushed gently by Sapnap. “Sowwy.”
“It’s okay, hon, just don’t be so loud”, Sapnap replied. Punz nodded. “Well, you boys face fun, we’ll meet here in about a half an hour? That sound good to you?” Dream nodded.
“You can always call me if you need us”, he said. Sapnap nodded and the watches at Dream, George, and Punz walked off to the bouncy house.
“Wa’k?”, Karl asked. Sapnap nodded.
“We can walk around the booths and see if there’s anything we can find to buy”, he replied. Sapnap got up from the picnic and Karl followed. The two boys started walking down to all of the booths lining the streets.
About 5 minutes into walking, Karl began to feel weird. Every little thing that surrounded Karl was making him uncomfortable. The face paint felt too foreign on his skin, the sound of people walking and talking was too loud, and all the different smells from the different foods were overwhelming him.
“Karl?”, Sapnap asked when he saw the look on his Little's face. “Karl, are you okay?” Karl’s lip pouted before he started crying, instantly clawing at his cheek to get his face paint off, then he covered his ears. “Darling? Can I touch you?”
Sapnap assumed that Karl was having some sort of sensory overload, which he should’ve expected, and usually Karl didn’t like to be touched when he was having a meltdown like this, but after a moment the Little nodded.
Gently, Sapnap pulled Karl close to him and walked him back to the picnic table that they just were at, sending a quick “sos” message to Dream.
Sapnap was able to calm Karl down eventually after they got back to the picnic table. Sapnap had guessed just the environment in the street caused Karl’s sensory issue.
“Daddy, no wike dis no mowe”, Karl hiccuped as Sapnap rubbed Karl’s back.
“I know, honey, we’ll go home once Dream, Punzo, and George come back, okay?”, Sapnap replied. Karl nodded and waited patiently. Once the three boys came back, they all went back to the car, Sapnap promised to fill Dream in on what had happened.
“Kawl, we gotcha some cott’n can’y”, Punz said when they all got in the car, handing the Little a small tub of cotton candy. Karl’s face lit up when he saw the cotton candy.
“Weawwy?!”, he exclaimed. “Fank oo, ‘unzo an’ Gogy!” George smiled softly.
“You ar’ ‘elcome”, he replied.
“Welcome!”, Punz exclaimed.
“It was Punzo’s idea”, Dream whispered to Sapnap. “I can’t believe how close they’re getting.”
“Yeah”, Sapnap replied. “I can’t believe it either.” The ride back home was silent, mostly because the Littles passed out from having too much fun at the festival.