Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A weary breath runs shakily out of Ranboo’s mouth as he tries to collect himself, pinching his eyes closed as he quickly feels his exhaustion running rampant through his body from their already long morning. It is taking every single fiber in his lanky body to not smack himself in the face with his annoyance, instead taking a moment to try and practice patience with their young friend as they stand idly in Dream’s front foyer. They’re doing their best to get Tommy to listen, but it isn’t working that well anymore.

Tommy is, for lack of better words, a whiny brat and he has been ever since they stepped off the airplane onto American soil a few hours ago.

Amazingly, Ranboo does get it. 

He does in fact know the causes of Tommy’s bratty nature, but it doesn’t make his display any less annoying. Traveling is taxing for anyone to endure, but Tommy had been a general nuisance for the entire flight - which he got in plenty of trouble for - and became extremely whiny from their flight and needing to sit for as long as he did. And because he arrived whiny, that means he is already in no type of mood to listen to anyone, especially Dream who already told them to kick their shoes off at the door.

It’s a simple request, but nothing is actually made simple by Tommy.

The youngest frowns up at him with blue pleading eyes, letting a long whine spill from his lips and shaking his head in disagreement, being a difficult child. 

Thankfully, Dream isn’t looking at them anymore - too caught up in a conversation with Karl to notice them, even as he stands at the end of the foyer with Sapnap attached to his back - because that would be beyond embarrassing for him. He does not want Tommy to come across as a disobedient child when he’s usually a sweet guy.

Now, the youngest bounces on the heels of his feet, arms swinging by his sides in a seemingly playful manner, but both Ranboo and Tubbo know better than to take his little actions at face value.

Tommy tends to behave playfully, wanting his actions to come off in that clear manner, but it’s obvious that he’s feeling tired right now and could really use a nap within the next few hours before he becomes an overtired and cranky baby. The caregivers could use a nap themselves, just a little bit of rest would be nice, but they know they can’t just bring something like that up. Telling Tommy, he needs a nap will just end up being an entire dilemma or with him having a meltdown. They’ll just need to keep a close eye on him and potentially coax him into taking a nap whenever he seems close to one.

“Tommy,” Ranboo scolds gently, unlocking his parental voice as he bends down to be at the boy's ear level. “We’re guests inside Dream’s house, you’re going to behave accordingly. Now, you need to take your shoes off and place them nicely like we’ve all been asked to do.”

Tommy’s eyebrows scrunch up together, blue eyes widening as he looks up at his friend and caregiver. “But…” he pouts, bottom lip jutting out farther. “I don’t wanna…” the baby whines, stomping his foot.

“Would you like a timeout instead?” Ranboo asks seriously, eyebrows pinching together and searching his face for more resistance. He’s not against putting Tommy in timeout for misbehaving and by no means does he want to leave a bad first impression on their friends just because the boy needs a nap.

“No mother,” he scoffs, secretly telling Ranboo off for acting parental towards him when he isn’t even little.

Ranboo stares back down at him, daring the boy to act out while they’re all in America together. Tommy grumbles under his breath in disbelief, before toeing his shoes off and placing them nicely beside Tubbo's like a good boy would. Which made Ranboo very proud as he patted him on the back, smiling down with approval.

“Sorry, but where’s the bathroom at?” Tubbo asks Dream, interrupting his conversation.

Karl walks him off towards the downstairs bathroom, while Dream comes back over in their direction to help bring their bags inside. Ranboo quickly follows after him, not bothering to put his shoes back on as he goes.

When Tommy looks back again, he finds Sapnap still standing wordlessly in his same spot from before, just without Dream standing beside him. 

When they were originally welcomed in, Sapnap had been peeking out shyly from behind Dream’s back, hand twisted tight in his shirt as he followed the older around like a lost puppy. Now he stands there without his cover, looking up at him with wide eyes as he slowly begins to step in his direction.

“Hey mate,” Tommy waves unsurely at him, slightly confused as he moves deeper inside the house to stand by his side.

“Hi,” he squeaks, offering a small wave back. 

Sapnap’s eyes stay big and bug-like as he keeps looking up in almost a sense of wonderment but staying silent as Tommy stops in front of him. They’re more or less standing in the living room now but are off to the side of it.

“You alright mate?” Tommy questions, confusion clear across his face.

“You call them by their parental names while big too?” He asks, eyes glowing in excitement as he bounces on his heels slightly.

“What?” he chuckles, shaking his head and pulling a face at the question. “Of course, I don’t.”

Which seemed to be the wrong response for Sapnap as his eyes fell, mood deflating as a frown replaced his smile. His body trembled slightly as he took a step back, trying to leave the conversation while searching for one of his parents to hide in.

“Oh, sorry,” he murmurs, hands anxiously fidgeting.

“Are you okay Sap?” he tries again, reaching towards the other. “Do you call your caregivers by their parental names while big?” He asks genuinely, just wanting to understand what’s happening with him.

“Bubbas’ say it’s weird….” He trails off, eyes catching with the ground to avoid Tommy’s, uneasily standing there.

“What’s weird?”

“Me calling them Papa and Baba while big,” he pauses, watery eyes looking back up at his friend, breaking his heart. “So, when I heard you calling Ranboo Mother, I assumed we were the same and that I wasn’t actually alone.” He mumbles, taking another couple of steps backwards until his socked feet reach the rug.

“Oh,” Tommy whispers, eyes widening in surprise. “Let’s sit and talk about this, alright?”

Sapnap did not need to be told twice to sit down as he plops himself down in the exact spot, he was standing in. Tommy chuckles, still a little confused as he sits down himself and touches their knees together.

Sap mumbles about the things that have been happening over the last few weeks, telling Tommy all about what his brothers have been doing and how it has made him feel. He even told Tommy about what happened this morning, and Tommy sat there listening to him the entire time, trying to understand everything himself. Unfortunately, he knows he isn’t the best equipped to handle little space things and family dynamics, because he’s still an only child and his head is getting slightly fuzzy.

Tommy’s eyes light up when Tubbo stumbles back into the living room, watching his familiar caregiver walk towards the front door.

“Can I ask Tubbo to join us? I promise he’s really helpful, maybe he could make you feel a little better at the very least?” Tommy asks, eyes pleading with the other little.

“Okay,” Sap mumbles, agreeing.

“What’s this?” Tubbo asks, standing over the two questioning, before dropping down to sit beside them. “What’s going on Sap?” he asks, looking at the still frowning boy who shakes his head.

“Want me to tell him?” Tommy asks, waiting for approval before speaking. 

Tommy goes on his own spiel, repeating everything back to Tubbo that Sapnap had told him, only stopping when Sap would interject to change a small detail. Tubbo slowly absorbs the information, feeling bad for the boy as Tommy goes on. He frowns to himself, slowly coming up with different solutions for the boy.

“Do you want me to talk to your parents? Explain things?” Tubbo asks, which is met with a sharp headshake.

“No, please don’t tell Papa or Baba. I don’t wanna cause any more issues with them, they already got into trouble this morning because of me.” Sapnap pleas, green eyes watery once more.

Tubbo sighs but respects his wishes.

“Sap?” Tommy asks, pulling his attention towards himself. Sapnap hums back in response, looking up into his eyes. “Would it make you feel better if I started calling Tubbo and Ranboo by their parental names?” he asks, squeezing Sapnap’s hand.

“Yes please,” he whispers, smiling softly up at the other.

Sapnap happily bounces in his spot, excited to finally have another person - outside of his parents - on his side for once.

Finally, Ranboo and Dream come back into the house with the suitcases and carry-on bags, leaving them in the foyer as they peer down at their two kiddos. Karl follows along, coming from the nurseries before turning to head up the staircase instead.

“What’re you two doing?” Ranboo asks, ruffling up Tommy’s hair as he bends down to be closer to their level.

“Talking,” Sap supplied back, smiling.

Sapnap and Tommy continue to bubble about random things until George and Punz come downstairs, both frowning with their arms crossed over. Dream of snags his youngest baby from the ground, bouncing him up on his hip, because it’s officially their naptime. Whiny babies whine, even when they’re big babies - teen babies?

“Alright, naptime you three,” Dream tells them, starting towards his bedroom with the older two trailing behind.

“Can I take a nap too Mum?” Tommy asks, causing Ranboo to do a double take and give him a strange look.

Both Punz and George turn around at the parental name, pulling their own strange looks as his eyebrows scrunch together. They scoff as their noses scrunch, looking Tommy up and down, before turning back around again and disappearing down the hallway. Clearly thinking the same things about him that they do their brother, but the trio don’t pay them any mind.

“Are you small?” Ranboo asks, surprised.

“I’ll explain later.” Is all Tubbo supplied before standing up, helping Tommy up off the floor with a heavy heart. 

Something seriously needs to change because that boy doesn’t deserve the treatment of his own brothers. Sometimes people are just horrible, that much they know.

Chapter Text

Petite fingers twist up tight into the front of Dream’s white shirt as he totes Sapnap’s small body off towards the “designated nap room” or more fondly known as his own bedroom. The two older kids- teens? - yeah, he still needs to figure that one out - are hot on their heels, making sure to keep up with the taller. All three boys let out long whines, all for different reasons as they shuffle inside the room and allow the door to slip closed behind their backs. 

Sapnap’s whining because he’s gotten overly tired, along with the remaining fuss from earlier this morning when he had been woken up.

George and Punz are both whining because they’re stubborn and don’t want to lay down for their naps. Which has been the case since Dream first introduced a nap into their normal routine, but then they would all scoff and pout about it, whining up to him about not needing to take a nap like little babies would. Their points were never proven, because as soon as they would lay down, they would fall asleep. The routine in of itself took time for the boys’ to get used to, but a nap usually resorted in them having less cranky kids later in the nighttime, which was a win in the parents book.

Of course, they’ll still occasionally fight over having to take a nap, but it isn’t as bad as it once was.

Dream settles his youngest down on the lip of his bed, watching as the older two kids sit down beside Sapnap like they’re supposed to do. Once he’s sure they’ll stay where they’re supposed to - there have been issues with them running away in the past - Dream steps inside his closet to grab appropriate sleepwear for the boys. Which becomes perfect cover for George and Punz to cause mischief as they start giggling, eyes lighting up as they look at each other with twisted smiles, then back towards Sapnap’s smaller form.

Sapnap catches their evil eyes, instantly shrinking down as his half-regressed brain already knows what they’re going to bring up or say by their dumb giggles alone.

“Damn, you’re always such a baby Sapnap,” Punz snickers, poking his arm roughly. “Don’t know how to walk by yourself anymore little baby? Huh? Need your precious Papa to carry you around everywhere?” He chides, spitting out his words and causing George to giggle louder as Sapnap looked up pitifully at his older brothers.

“Awe, I think baby might just start crying.” George says smugly, arms crossing over his chest in pride.

“Yeah, he probably wants his Papa to hold him, so he doesn’t cry.” The words oddly cut him, forcing a painful sting into his chest as tears crowd his vision, exhausted by his brothers mean antics.

“You guys are mean,” he whines, scrubbing at his eyes to get rid of his tears before Dream steps out again. “I don’t like you guys anymore,” he whines, the response bubbly and tear-filled as Dream finally comes back out, completely unaware of what George and Punz had been saying to him.

“Like we care,” George scoffs, eyes rolling. His speech wasn’t loud enough to be heard by Dream’s ears as he sorts through the three different outfits to check their sizes. Once satisfied, he finally looks back up at them again, only to gasp loudly.

Dream’s eyes widened in fear at the sight of Sapnap. His face is red and patchy with large tears sitting on the brim of his eyelids. He’s doing his best to bite them back as he looks away, avoiding eye contact. The clothes Dream had been holding are lazily tossed onto the bed as he squats down to be eye-level with the young boy, grabbing both of his hands tightly and forcing their eye contact.

“Hey, what’s wrong little one?” he worries softly, hand reaching up to wipe away stray fallen tears for lacing their hands back together again.

Sap bites his lip for a moment before shaking his head.

“‘M just tired Papa…” he lies, sniffling his nose sadly.

Dream looks up into his eyes in disbelief, knowing better than the story he’s being told. He knows his little boy is lying to him, and he knows something happened while he was gone for only a few minutes, but he can’t force him to tell the truth. All this lying and hiding the truth is beginning to get on his nerves and he plans on ending it tonight, because naptime is not an appropriate time to address these things.

He eyes the two older boys suspiciously, rolling his eyes in annoyance as they both give him an innocent look.

“Alright honey,” he says, patting his right knee. “Let’s get you changed into something a little more comfortable, then you can lay down for your nap, alright?” he asks, watching the small boy nod his head slowly, before he stood back up.

As always Sapnap happily helps Dream undress himself, throwing off every article of clothing his small hands could get a hold of. Which included his cute cat socks that he threw across the room towards the laundry basket but missing by a long shot. Dream just chuckles at his antics, knowing he can’t stop the now giggling boy as he does it.

Dream’s hands do catch his own when he notices the grabbing for his boxers, quickly stopping him and earning a pout.

“Those need to stay on sweetheart,” he whispers, not that the baby was happy with the statement.

Dream pats Sapnap’s thigh, telling him to lift his leg up as he holds the foot part of his footie pajamas. He helps the younger slip into his Panda onesie, easily sipping it up as Sapnap squirmed around trying to escape. He hates clothes, even if he likes what the outfit is, he still hates clothes.

“Okay, your good little boy,” he tells him, patting his back gently.

“Cans I go get kitty Papa?” he asks, clearly beginning to slip more like he had promised earlier in the day. It brings pride to his chest to know his little one is so close to actually regressing when he hasn’t been little for the past couple of days.

“Of course, you can, sweetheart,” Dream smiles, patting his face.

Sapnap happily stands up for the bed and shuffles off towards his nursery in search of his favorite stuffie, which gives Dream time to turn and look at the other two left sitting on the bed. His smile drops from his face, arms crossing over his chest as he looks down at them with disapproval, causing them both to frown.

“Now, what did you two say to your brother to upset him?” he asks, tapping his foot against the ground.

“We didn’t say anything,” George whines, keeping their innocent façade in check as he does.

“Yeah, like Sap said himself, he’s just tired. He always gets whiny and upset anytime he’s really tired, you can’t blame us for that.” Punz says, biting his bottom lip in hopes that he convinced their father into believing him, which he did not.

Dream squats down in front of the younger two, patting their knees as he looks between them.

“Look, I don’t know what’s been happening between you guys and Sapnap, but this behavior is absolutely unacceptable. There are going to be serious consequences for the both of you if you keep this up, am I understood?” Dream’s voice is deadly, one not to be messed with as he stares between the two boys.

“Yes sir,” they whispered back, looking down at their laps shamefully.

“Good,” he says, before standing back up to help them both change.

The two boys grumble as Dream helps them change, annoyed, but not fighting him as they let what he told them soak in. they both think about his words, deciding for themselves what he had meant by them.

“Go lay down, I need to go find Sapnap,” Dream tells them, patting both of their bums as they crawl up towards the headboard.

Dream finds it strange that Sapnap still hasn’t come back from going to get his kitty, and wonders if he was actually tired enough to fall asleep in his nursery, but that thought is dismissed when he hears clumsy feet on the floor. He peeks his head inside to find the boy jumping to reach the far corner of his crib where his kitty is laying. Dream lets out a low chuckle as he moves inside towards the boy.

“What’re you doing baby?” he asks, pulling the small boy's attention back in his direction.

“Twyin’ get ‘itty, but no weach,” he babbles, making grabby hands towards the stuffie, but unable to reach it without the bars lowered. “Papa hewp?” he asks, fingers slipping inside his mouth for comfort.

“Of course, I’ll help my little baby,” he smiles, easily reaching over the side and plucking the toy cat from his crib. “Here little one,” he smiles, handing the toy over to a pleased Buggie-Baby. “Ah-ah, no fingers, icky remember,” he smiles, pulling his fingers down from his mouth and grabbing a pacifier instead.

“Icky,” the baby repeats in amazement, holding his fingers out to be cleaned up.

Dream easily cleans the boy’s fingers up once his Panada paci is plopped into his mouth, moving the little boy back in the direction of his bedroom so he can go and take his nap already.

Punz and George are quietly whispering two each other when they enter, both rolling their eyes when they notice Bug and slouching down in their spots. Dream shakes his head, giving them a silent reminder of what he had told them, which did not stop their eyes from rolling a second time as they got more comfortable on Karl’s side of the bed. Dream helped Bug curl up under the covers, kissing his forehead goodnight, before looking up at the others who shook their heads.

“Alright, it’s naptime, everyone behave.” He tells them, turning to the side table to turn on the baby monitors to keep a close eye on them. “Behave, I’ll know this time,” he says, shaking the other monitor in the air. “Goodnight.”

“Night.” Came back three mumbled responses as he shut off the lights and shut the door behind his back.

He steps out towards the living room, almost running into Tubbo as he does, stopping himself and taking a step back in surprise. Tubbo’s bloodshot eyes look up at him in surprise, before sighing in relief.

“Can we talk really fast?” He asks, straightening himself back out.

“Of course, what’s up?” Dream asks, guiding them both out towards the living room to take a seat while they talk. 

Tubbo repeats back to him exactly what Sapnap told him earlier, because although the boy didn’t want him too, Tubbo isn’t going to sit back while knowing his brothers are actively hurting him. The only time secrets are okay to be kept is when they aren’t hurting yourself or others, and this “secret” breaks the latter part. He’s not going to stand by idly, he’s just not going to do it.

Dream can feel his blood boiling with everything Tubbo tells him, pissed does not begin to describe his anger with the two older boys.

He knew something was going on, but Sapnap refused to tell him and Karl anyway, leaving the two parents in the dark the entire time. He wishes the boy had said something, but he understands why he didn’t. Now he’s going to have to think of different consequences for them, because he’s not letting this go any farther without some.

These children will be the death of him.

“Thank you for telling me, Tubbo,” he smiles, hiding his anger as best he can. “Go head up to bed, you can use the rest,” he tells him, patting his own legs.

“Of course.” Were his parting words before he left, leaving the room in favor of actually taking a nap himself. And Dream leaves the room in favor of talking to Karl so they can come up with the consequences together.

Teens.

Chapter Text

A low whine slips out of Tommy’s mouth as he shifts awake, blinking slowly as he looks around the room in confusion, noticing that this isn’t his home. The walls are a boring gray tone with random wall art he’s never seen before, the blankets are kinda scratchy against his skin, and there are suitcases piled into one corner. A pout forms across his face as he pushes himself up, remembering where he is.

Where’d Ranboo and Tubbo go? They always stay with him whenever he takes a nap so he doesn’t wake up alone, or does that only apply to when he’s little?

His pout deepens as he gets up with more vigor, tossing warm sheets away from his body and checking that he’s decent, before stumbling out of the shared bedroom down the stairs in search for Ranboo. He makes sure to scan the floor he’s on, but figures Ranboo would be somewhere downstairs as he goes down the next flight of stairs.

“Mum!” he yells, the word easily slipping over his tongue. No matter what, he’s keeping his word to Sapnap. Which means he’ll call them by their parental names while in the house at the very least. “Mum!” he yells louder, quickly turning towards the kitchen.

Tubbo stands idly by the sink as he cuts up some fruit to eat, only turning to look back in Tommy’s direction when he hears him walk into the room. His attention is split as he tries to finish cutting up his fruit before Tommy comes over towards him. The younger continues to look around the room to see if Ranboo’s hidden somewhere as he trudges over in Tubbo’s direction.

“Baba?” he asks, waiting until the other turnt his head to look at him. “Do you know where Mum’s at?” Tommy sneakily steals a washed grape from Tubbo’s bowl as he thinks about his question.

“Umm…” he hums, thinking about where their friend could possibly be. “Well, the last time I saw him, he was chatting with Dream, but I’m not sure where they are right now. You might want to check around the nurseries.” He informs, doing his best to remember the last place he saw Ranboo, but coming up short as he does.

“Okay, thank you Baba,” Tommy hums, stealing another grape before heading out of the room and going towards where Karl told them the nurseries were. “Muummm!” he yells louder with a whine in his voice, elongating his vowels. When he does step out into the living room, he notices Punz and George sitting on the couch together, subconsciously shrinking from what Sapnap told him about their behavior.

They’re both giggling as they lean into each other, whispering and batting at each other's arms. When they notice his presence, they pull themselves back and straighten themselves up, smiling evilly at him.

“You’re just like Sapnap, aren’t you?” George pokes, trying to gauge his reaction as his steps falter, pulling him back.

“What?” he asks, eyebrows drawing together in confusion.

“You're a big baby, just like Sapnap is, that’s why you’re yelling for your Mother rather than calling him by his name.” George comments, making quieter snide remarks that his ears don’t quite pick up on.

“Noo,” he answers shakily. “He is my mother, that’s why I’m calling him Mum. There isn’t anything wrong with it.” Tommy tries explaining, though he’s sure it’s all falling on deaf ears.

“That’s so weird,” Punz scoffs, rolling his eyes.

Tommy’s mouth opens to refute it, before closing again and not wanting to bother his time with stubborn bullies. Until they kept teasing him, words tightening around his brain as tears filled his eyes. He’s been close to regressing earlier, now his brain is fuzzier than ever as his knees buckle, causing him to drop down onto the floor. The fall really hurts his knees and the others snickering pulls him under.

His lungs restrict as he lets out a blood curdling cry, screaming out in desperation for his Mumma or Baba to come save him.

Punz and George’s eyes widen in fear, looking back and forth between each other and realizing the hot water they’re in now. Being mean to their brother and causing him to slip is one thing, but being mean to another caregivers little is different, and they both know they’re in big trouble.

Tubbo comes running out immediately, having been listening in the entire time knowing something was bound to happen, putting even more fear into the elder two’s hearts as they shrink down in their spots.

Dewdrop is scooped up from the floor and Tubbo gently rocks the sobbing boy who clings on tighter.

“You two stay exactly how you are, because you’ll both end up in bigger trouble if you move from your spots. I’m going to get your father.” Tubbo’s voice is deadly as he shoots boiling daggers into their skin, fury biting his face.

Tubbo is fuming mad as he stomps down the hallway with the crying baby, only feeling slight relief when Ranboo and Dream stumble out. Dewdrop is passed off to his mother, who quickly moves into action to soothe the small boy, knowing exactly what needs to be done to get Dewdrop to calm down. While Tubbo stands in front of Dream with darkening eyes and steam pouring out of his ears.

“Either you go straighten out your kids’ behavior, or I will.” He threatens, tone not to be messed with. “I draw the line at them hurting my son, fix the issue, or we find a hotel to stay at instead.” Tubbo is seething in anger, and Dream completely agrees as he hurries his way down the hallway to find his other children.

Dream had been planning on talking to them after dinner, hoping that they could behave themselves long enough. However, it seems like they won’t behave unless being watched closely and enough is enough.

He warned them, their consequences come from them not listening.

When he does make it back into the living room, the two boys seem to have enough shame to act innocently with their heads hung and hands laced in their laps. Neither of them dare to look up or make eye contact with him, but Dream isn’t buying their act. They had time for redemption, they chose not to be redeemable.

“Okay, I warned you, come on you two.” Dream tells them, motioning for them to stand up as his foot taps angrily against the ground.

He’s sure they both want to fight him over this as they bite their fingers, but neither says anything as they scramble to stand up, both understanding the depth of trouble that they're in. If it were Karl, then they could probably easily swindle their way out, but Dream will never let them get off that easily.

Dream walks behind them as they head towards his bedroom, Ranboo and Tubbo head out the opposite way with Dewdrop, taking their baby back up to their bedroom. Dream shakes his head shamefully, already writing an apology in the back of his mind for later.

“George, sit against the wall. Punz come with me,” Dream tells them, watching their eyes widen before they do as they’re told. George silently sits down on the ground, fidgeting with his hands as Dream takes Punz’s inside his bedroom and closes the door. “Sit,” he tells him, before shutting the door that leads into Bean’s nursery as well.

Dream lets out a long sigh, before sitting down beside the boy and looking deep inside his watery eyes, watching as he tries to fight against him.

“This is your final opportunity to be honest with me,” he warns, anger still burning strong in his stomach.

“Yes sir,” he murmurs, wanting to look down but forcing himself to keep looking up.

“How old are you right now?” Dream asks, seeing as he refused to answer the question earlier this morning.

“Thir- teen,” he hiccups shyly, confirming his exact thoughts about the boys. “I’m sorry,” he starts, before Dream shakes his head and holds his hand up telling him to stop speaking, which he does immediately.

“Okay,” Dream starts, taking a deep breath. “Why? Why have you been bullying your brother and why did you think it was okay to do?” He has to ease his breathing, trying to not get riled up before he’s explained himself. He would be a very bad father if he had done that anyway.

“Umm…” Punz pauses, muttering lowly as he picks at his fingernails.

“Speak up,” Dream tells him.

“I- I, I dunno know…” he whispers shamefully. “Gogy and I have felt left out recently, and I dunno. I guess we wanted to hurt other people, but I’m really sorry.”

“Wait, wait, hold on,” Dream stops him, still ignoring his apology. “If you’re both teen regressors, then what names are you going by?” He asks, realizing he hadn’t asked this entire time and just assumed.

“Ooh, umm… Punzo and Gogy,” he whispers, eyes flickering down before meeting with Dream’s eyes again.

“Okay, keep talking Punzo.” He tells him, making sure to use his preferred name, which brings a tiny smile to his face before it drops again. “Explain your actions.”

“Ugh…” he sighs, tapping his hands together anxiously. “Gogy and I feel like you favor Sapnap to us, because he doesn’t even need to be regressed to be treated like your baby, but Gogy and I have been regressing for the last few months and you’ve never noticed before. We- we just feel left out, dunno.” He trails off looking down at his lap. “We- we didn’t think that you wanted to be our Pa- Papa anymore.”

Dream sighs, before pulling the small boy into his lap and looking deep into his eyes as he pushes hair from his face.

“Punzo, no matter what age you guys are, you’ll always be my baby.” Dream promised pulling him tight. “And I’m sorry that I haven’t noticed your regression until now, before today I hadn’t realized that someone could have an older regression. I always just figured young kids and that was it, but don’t think I didn’t notice you two had been acting younger. I know that I always try to be perfect, but I fall short in that department. And I wish you would’ve talked to me sooner, so we could resolve this issue before now.” Dream sighs, unpleased by his behavior.

“I know Papa; I’m really sorry. I- I promise I’m not always bad, just jealous that you spend so much time with Sapnap. I feel like there isn’t any time for you to spend with me, and I miss my Papa.” Punzo frowns, biting his lip as he looks down.

Dream pulls him tighter, grabbing his attention again.

“I’ll make that up to you, okay, we’ll plan an entire day for us to spend together without Sapnap or Gogy to disturb us, alright?”

“And Baba?” he asks hopefully, eyes widening.

“Sure,” Dream smiles, still adoring his children, even when they’re demons. “But I thought calling someone by a parental name was weird? Why’d you change your mind so suddenly?” he asks, watching Punzo’s face flush in embarrassment.

“It’s- it’s not…”

“But, that’s what you told Sapnap, and Tommy.” He says, not actually knowing that was what he said, but figuring he probably said the same things to Tommy that he said to his brother.

“It's not.” Shame rings out on his face, “Just- dunno- wanted to hurt Sap and Tommy because they had something we didn’t. It’s not weird.”

“You’re right, it’s not weird.” Dream reassures, before tightening his grip once more and loosening it again. “Alright, let's talk about your punishment.”

Punzo deflates, but knew this had been coming from the very beginning.

“So, you’ll go sit in timeout while I talk to George, but you’re also going to lose some privileges and you need to apologize to your brother and Tommy. Alright?” he asks, watching Punzo nod his head. “I know your bullying hasn’t fully been inside your regression, so you’re gonna lose car privileges for the rest of the month.” Dream starts, already hating this. 

Revoking privileges has always been his least favorite form of parenting, right behind physical punishments, but he just doesn’t know the right punishment in this case. He’ll just learn as he goes.

“You can’t have your phone after 9pm, and you’re not allowed to use your Xbox outside of streaming. Sound fair enough?” he asks, trying to gauge his reaction.

“Yeah Papa,” he agrees, feeling that the punishment is less severe than it could’ve been.

“If you continue to bully anyone, you’re going to get a more severe punishment, do you understand me?”

“Yes Papa, I won’t do it again.”

“Alright,” Dream sighs. “Let's go put you in timeout.” He says, helping Punzo stand up from the bed before taking him outside of the room to switch them off.

Gogy looks up sadly, sniffing slightly as he picks at his shirt, seemingly anxious and possibly fearful as he steps out. Punzo grabs his hand for half a second to squeeze it, before dropping down beside him and stealing where he had been sitting.

“C’mon Gogy, let’s go talk.” Dream tells him, holding his hand out for the other one to grab.

Gogy hesitantly stands up with Dream’s help, following after the man back into the bedroom that he just walked out of.

“Alright, can you tell me why you were in timeout little boy?” Dream asks, sitting down on the bed with the other.

“Um… bullying Tommy,” he whispers, receiving a nod back in response.

“Punzo has already told me a bit about how you two have been regressing without me noticing, but I want you to tell me how you feel as well.” Dream tells him, pulling him down to sit on the bed beside him.

Gogy repeats back a lot of the same things that Punzo said, except he always finds himself going back to being jealous and not feeling good enough to be their child anymore. Dream was quick to reassure him, telling him that he’ll always be his baby at heart, and that bad decisions won’t define his life as long as he can learn and grow from them and become a better person.

“I am sorry Papa. I know, I’ve been horrible and mean, and I’m sorry for not bringing it up sooner like I should’ve and letting the bad feelings fester.”

Dream sighs, pulling him into a tight hug.

“Thank you, but I’m not the one you need to apologize to. You need to apologize to both Tommy and your little brother, and we need to talk about your punishment before you can leave.”

“Okay,” he sighs, frowning.

“I know you’ve been big as well as regressed when this behavior has occurred, and I’ve already taken car privileges from Punz, therefore you cannot use the car either, but because you don’t drive, that means you can’t leave with Punz or Sapnap.” Dream explains, figuring it’d work the best.

“Okay,” he sighs, running his anxious hands over his pants.

“You can’t have your phone after 9pm, and you’re not allowed to use your PS4 outside of streaming. Am I understood?” he asks, watching Gogy nod.

“Yes sir.”

They talk for a few more moments, before Dream decides it’s been enough after promising Gogy his own day just like he did for Punzo. They step out of the room together, where Dream talks to Punzo a final time before letting him out of timeout.

The four of them go into the living room where the tension could be cut with a knife. 

Dewdrop gasps at the sight of them, squirming to get back onto Ranboo’s lap, while Bug follows closely after his friend, trying to hide behind lanky legs. Punzo and Gogy deflate, finally realizing how horrible they’ve been. They knew they were hurting their brother, but they didn’t realize they were hurting their brother.

The two drop to their knees in front of the others, before taking deep breaths and giving them both the most sincere apology that Dream has ever heard come out of their mouths, and those boys’ have apologized a lot of times.

Neither of the babies seemed too keen to accept their apologies at first, but the boys’ didn’t push as they played with Bug.

Over a couple of hours the babies came out of their shells again, happily playing a pretend game with the two older boys, who giggled just as happily as the little babies did. Maybe teens aren’t always the worst, at least, not when their needs are getting met they aren’t.

However, Dream can tell that teen boys’ are going to be difficult to deal with and that they’ll come with all of their own different struggles.

Teens.