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“Boys! Lunch!” Sapnap called up the stairs. He startled the Baby in his arms, who whined, tears leaking down his face.
Sapnap bounced him. “Oh, I know, angel. Daddy’s so loud, isn’t he? Shh, darling. Daddy’s gonna be quieter now, okay?”
Froggy settled again only to startle seconds later when he heard his brothers yelling from the top of the stairs.
“Me fiwst!”
“No, me first!”
“I gotted hewe fiwst!”
“I was bown first!”
“Dat do no make no sense!”
“Means I get ta go first cause ‘m older!”
“No fair!”
“Boys! No fighting on the stairs! You’re gonna get hurt!” Sapnap scolded.
They both walked down the stairs sheepishly.
“Sowry, Daddy.”
“It’s okay. Daddy just wants you to be safe. He doesn’t like it when you get hurt.”
“M’kay, Daddy.”
“Good. Now, go eat your lunch.”
They went to the table, pulling sandwiches, carrot sticks, and apple slices onto their plates. Sapnap was about to breathe a sigh of relief when Froggy started to cry.
“Hey. What’s wrong, bubbas? Are you hungry?” A whine, which meant no. “Tired?” Another whine. “Thirsty?” A high-pitched cry that told Sapnap everything he needed to know. He started up the stairs. “Oh, angel. You’re wet and icky, huh?” A nod and a whimper of confirmation. “Okay. Let’s go get you cleaned up, yeah?” Froggy nodded and tucked his face in Sapnap’s neck. “Hey, no need to be embarrassed, hon. It’s okay.”
Froggy whined, hiding his face in Mr. Panda’s fur while Daddy changed him. He was trying to be extra good for Daddy, because Papa was away and Ducky and Gogy were fighting non-stop. He’d slipped into Babyspace, though, and couldn’t make it to the potty. He wasn’t being a good boy and clearly it was making Daddy sad. Even if the man didn’t want to admit it, he was sad that no one was being good.
There was a crash downstairs and Daddy sighed, then picked up Froggy and put him in his crib.
“I’ll be right back, darling.”
Froggy heard more yelling from downstairs before everything got quiet. He waited a minute for Daddy to come back, but the man wasn’t there. So Froggy maneuvered his way out of his crib and downstairs. He found Daddy in the kitchen, hands shaking as tears flowed from his closed eyes. His body shook with the silent sobs and Froggy knew instantly: he was having a panic attack. Froggy went to the closet and grabbed Arthur and his weighted blanket, texting Jimmy and Chris to come over. As he was rooting through the closet, he saw Ducky and Gogy in Timeout Chairs, giving each other dirty looks. That was the least of his problems, so he crawled back to the kitchen and put Arthur in Daddy’s lap and wrapped the weighted blanket around the man as best as he could.
“Hey, we got your text. What’s going on?” Chris asked, walking in.
Froggy saw Daddy flinch and shushed his friends, then led them to the family room. “Daddy havin’ panic ‘tack. Gotta be quiet,” he explained.
Chris and Jimmy nodded. Chris went to go comfort Sapnap while Jimmy stayed with Froggy, who looked to be on the verge of tears himself.
“Hey. Your Daddy’s gonna be okay, buddy,” Jimmy tried, but it only made Froggy’s tears fall faster as he curled in on himself. Jimmy decided to call Dream, who picked up on the third ring.
“Hey. You kinda caught me at a bad time.”
“Sorry. Do you have, like, five minutes to talk?”
“I think so. What’s going on?”
“I’m not quite sure, but Froggy texted us with a 911 asking us to come over. Sapnap’s having a panic attack and I think something’s up with Froggy, but he’s unresponsive,” Jimmy explained.
Dream cursed. “Shit. Okay. Can you put Froggy on the phone?”
“Yeah.” Jimmy put the phone between them. “You’re on speaker now.”
“Froggy? Baby, it’s Papa. Can you tell me what’s going on?”
“Papa, Daddy hads a panic ‘tack.”
“Do you know why Daddy had a panic attack, sweet boy?”
Froggy cringed at the nickname. He wasn’t a sweet boy. He was a bad boy. A very bad boy. He gulped, knowing he’d have to answer Papa’s question. He couldn’t lie to the man. He was already in enough trouble as is.
“Tause Fwoggy a bad boy,” he whimpered, hanging his head.
There was a sigh from the doorway.
“Oh, angel. You’re not a bad boy. And you didn’t cause my panic attack,” Daddy told him.
“Sap, you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine now. Thanks, Dream. We’ll talk to you later.”
“Alright, bye.”
Sapnap hung up the phone and took Jimmy’s place next to Froggy, who had his face buried in his knees.
“Angel, can you look at me, please?”
Froggy looked up, eyes teary, and saw Daddy, green eyes devoid of the tears that stained his cheeks. Before the man could say anything, Froggy spoke.
“Fwoggy sowwy he bad. Twied ta be good, Daddy. Pomise.”
“Oh, angel. You’ve been so good today and Daddy appreciates that so much, baby boy.”
“B-bu did no go potty,” Froggy pointed out. “Posed ta be big boy fow Daddy. No Baby. Baby bad. P-posed ta be big boy. Posed ta-ta go potty in da potty.”
“Oh, sunshine. It’s okay. Daddy doesn’t think you’re bad for not using the potty. You were in Babyspace and that’s okay. Daddy doesn’t mind changing your diaper if you’re wet,” Daddy reminded him.
“B-bu Baby too much wowk. Baby ‘tupid. Posed ta be big boy. No make Mommy uset.” The Little hid his face in his knees again and Sapnap frowned.
He looked at Jimmy and Chris, who shared sad looks. Looks that were reserved for when Alice was brought up. Sapnap had never ever had the urge to hit anyone, much less a woman, but the more he heard about Alice, the more he wanted to smack some sense into her. From what he’d learned directly from Jimmy and Chris and indirectly from Froggy, she wasn’t only a shitty Caregiver, she was a shitty girlfriend. Manipulative and abusive both verbally and physically. She used his Littlespace against him, threatened to tell everyone if he left her, then broke up with him because he wouldn’t have sex with her.
Sapnap cupped Froggy’s face. “Hey. Angel, I promise I’m not upset with you if you use your diaper or your pull-up or if you don’t make it to the potty. Just so long as you tell me or Papa so we can get you cleaned up. Baby’s not too much work and he’s not stupid. He’s my special little angel and I love taking care of him so so much. Can I do that, Froggy? Can I take care of my little angel?” Sapnap asked, tickling the Little’s tummy for good measure.
Froggy laughed, uncurling himself just to squirm away from wiggling fingers. Daddy kept tickling him, adding raspberries into the mix. On his cheeks, his chest, his tummy, anywhere he could that would make Froggy laugh. After what felt like hours, Daddy pulled away, rubbing a soothing hand over his chest to help him calm down. Jimmy and Chris, who had left during the tickle session, came back over with Ducky and Gogy, who were staring at their feet sheepishly.
“Daddy? We’s weally sowwy we usetted you,” Ducky mumbled.
Gogy nodded. “We didn’ mean ta make you cry.”
Sapnap looked at them and smiled, holding his arms out for a hug and both Littles rushed to him, burying their faces in his neck. He rubbed their backs.
“It’s okay, darlings. No more fighting, okay?”
They pulled away. “Kay, Daddy.”
“Good. Now, let’s watch a movie.”
Froggy perked up. “‘Pic’bwe Me!”
“Alright, angel. We’ll watch Despicable Me.” Sapnap turned on the movie and pulled Froggy into his lap. Jimmy and Chris did the same to Gogy and Ducky respectively and they all watched the movie. About halfway through, Sapnap heard sniffling and Froggy tucked his head into the Caregiver’s neck. Sapnap rubbed his back.
“Hey, what’s wrong? Are you upset that the girls have to go back? Don’t worry little one, it’ll be okay.”
Froggy shook his head. “Wet,” he whimpered.
“Okay, angel. Let’s go get you cleaned up.” Sapnap paused the movie. “Does anyone else need a potty break?”
Gogy nodded, standing up from Jimmy’s lap and going to the bathroom. Sapnap carried Froggy upstairs and got him changed. Instead of tears, the Little was babbling incoherently, smiling at Mr. Panda as if they were having a conversation. Sapnap chimed in with his own little comments like “uh-huh” and “no, really?” which made the Little giggle. Once he got Froggy into a new diaper, he washed his hands and carried the Baby back downstairs. They started up the movie, Sapnap feeling much better with the help he had.