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"daddy?"
dream looks over his shoulder at the ravenette's quiet call, smiling sweetly across the room when he sees his boyfriend standing in the doorway. "you alright, my love?" he greets rhetorically. he spins his chair to face sapnap fully, holding his arms out to the other and asking, "are you little, sweetheart?"
sapnap nods as he shuffles across the room, dragging his feet as he slides along the wooden floor. he reaches out to dream when he is close enough, the blond hoisting him up to settle on his lap.
dream wraps his arms around sapnap's waist to keep him stable, rocking the gaming chair ever so slightly side to side. "is there something you want?" the blond asks sweetly, rubbing his hand up the other's side.
sapnap nods as he leans his head against the blonde's broad shoulder, humming contently at the affection he's receiving.
there's a moment of silence where dream is waiting for the other to specify what it is that he wants, but sapnap doesn't pick up on the social queue and continues to sit lax against his caregiver, relaxing into his warmth.
"are you hungry?" dream guesses. the little comes to him for just about anything, but his most regular request is some kind of snack or meal.
sapnap hums as if he's considering his state before shaking his head against the blonde.
"sleepy?"
this time sapnap gives him an audible, "nuh-uh," which is good because the blond was beginning to worry that maybe the other had slipped nonverbal whilst being in his arms.
"well, what on earth could you want then?" dream wonders, exaggerating his words like you see on kid's tv- he tries to make it seem like a big mystery, and his tone elicits an airy giggle from the younger boy.
"p'ay."
"you wanna play?" dream checks, his question causing the other boy to sit up in excitement as if he didn't just ask for it.
sapnap nods so quickly that dream thinks his head may roll off.
"alrighty, little guy. what do you wanna play?"
sapnap stares waitingly, and dream picks up the hint that they've gone back to the guessing game.
he hums, "colouring?" a head shake. "blocks?" another. "ooo, we could play with your new cars!"
sapnap declines with an awfully polite, "no, thank you."
dream squints, smiling playfully. "alright baby, you've won!" he says, hoping the aspect of competition will be convincing enough to stop their guessing game. "what is it you wanna play?"
sapnap begins to squirm and dream lets go of him so the ravenette can climb off of his lap and stand safely on his own two feet. "daddy, follow," he demands, earning himself an amused grin from dream as the blond boy gets up to follow after the little.
sapnap leads them triumphantly through the house as if he owns the place, looking back over his shoulder a couple of times to check dream is still following him on their adventure. he slows down as they head downstairs, making dream feel incredibly fond as he watches the ravenette grip the rail, getting both feet on each step before thinking of moving on to the next one.
safely on flat ground once more, sapnap reaches back to take dream's hand. the way sapnap pulls at his hand would be described as dragging if dream wasn't moving so willingly.
they reach the couch, stopping, and dream's brows furrow as sapnap points at patches.
"we can't play with patchie right now, baby, she's sleeping," dream tells the little.
sapnap quickly shakes his head, pointing at the cat again.
dream looks between his little and his cat, completely lost. "okay sweetheart, you're going to have to use your words," he says, reaching out to lay his hand on the small of sapnap's back. "what do you wanna play?"
"cats!" he says as if it was obvious, laughing afterwards. "you're rubbish at this game!"
dream laughs along, "yes, i suppose i should've guessed that," he agrees, even though sapnap has never wanted to play 'cats' before... what even is 'cats'? "so, how do we play cats?" he asks, hoping he won't get laughed at again.
"you are daddy," sapnap starts, poking dream's chest with a grin, "and i am a cat!"
"ohh," dream hums understandingly, longing out the sound. "i see, i get it," he nods, not unfamiliar with sapnap's like for make-believe playing. he's very imaginative when he's little.
it should've been expected, but dream is still taken aback when sapnap moves to sit on the floor. he sits cross-legged, which isn't entirely cat-like, but dream decides not to comment.
"awe, aren't you a pretty cat," dream starts, a little unsure of his role as he reaches down to brush his fingers through sapnap's hair. it makes the ravenette smile, pushing up against the hand and poorly imitating a purr, so dream assumes he's doing the right thing. "do you want some milk, little cat?"
sapnap nods excitedly, and dream wonders if this whole game was just a longed-out ploy to get a drink.
"alright sweetheart, you stay here with your cat friend," dream says, nodding towards where patches is still sleeping peacefully on their couch, "and i'll go get you some cat milk."
sapnap nods in agreement and dream offers him one last pet to the head before heading out. he would've rather had sapnap stay with him when he's little, but he really wasn't fond of the idea of the ravenette crawling all over the likely-dirty floors on his hands and knees, so he figured this was easier than trying to make him stand or having to carry his boyfriend about.
he makes quick work of preparing the drink, deciding to put it in a sippy cup so it would be easier for him if sapnap insisted that cats can't use their hands.
when he returns to the lounge, sapnap is still on the floor, but now he is sitting at the foot of the couch with his head up against the cushion, face-to-face with a sleeping patches.
he perks up when dream walks back in, but his face drops at the sight of the other's hands. "cats don't use cups," he says.
dream would do just about anything for the sweet ravenette, but he was not about to let him lick milk out of a bowl, regressed or otherwise. "they also don't talk," he says with a smile, watching his friend's mouth snap shut. "and, actually, some super small baby kittens drink out of a bottle."
he doesn't know if it's true, but he's seen videos of lambs drinking from bottles and he can't imagine the two animals are that different.
he takes a seat on the couch, not too close to patches since he didn't want to disrupt the cat, and taps the space beside him. "c'mon sappy, aren't you a little baby kitten?"
the ravenette beams, clearly happy to be a kitten, and climbs up onto the couch beside dream.
the blond smiles, holding the bottle to his friend's mouth.
sapnap slumps against his side, letting his eyes drift shut and his head flop onto the blonde's shoulder as he sips away at the drink, humming happily between mouthfuls.
when dream notices the ravenette giving up with drinking, he moves the bottle away.
"is it time for a cat nap?"
sapnap nods sleepily before shifting about to be curled up on the couch beside dream, with his head in the blonde's lap.
dream smiles fondly down at the little, reaching out to brush through his lover's hair, just like he would a cat. his heart feels warm as he watches the ravenette doze off.