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Chapter Text

Karl's eyelids are beginning to feel heavy as he stares down at his sweet baby Bug.

His arms are leaning against the railing of his crib and watching as the baby takes slow breaths, pacifier gently bobbing in his mouth, and sleeping peacefully with nothing in the world that could hurt him.

His fingers tumble downwards to push some of his soft hair backwards, watching the strands fold back into their place on his forehead.

Karl huffs playfully, before pushing himself up and going to leave from the room.

Before he does leave, he turns himself back around again, just long enough to look at the baby's soft face and feel his heart warm up.

Carefully, he shuts the door behind himself and steps towards the living room, more than ready to head off to bed.

The house is pretty silent around him as he takes slow steps, the other boys' already asleep for what he knows; for what he hopes.

He thinks this has been the least stressful day since George and Punz got sick, their fevers have finally gone down, so they headed up to their own rooms.

Well, George headed up to his room.

They once again pulled out the blow-up mattress for Punz and set it back up in Dream's office, so he'd have his own space to recover, but Karl doesn't think that's where Punz is actually sleeping.

He faintly remembers watching a figure sneak down the hallway towards Sapnap's room once he found out that Bug was out to play, knowing the space was free for him to take over until Sap's big again.

But that's Karl little secret to keep for the other, knowing him being in Sapnap's room gives him comfort.

Since their fevers have gone down, neither Punz or George have been small, but they both are still feeling a little too weak to do anything but sleep and rest off their lingering sickness symptoms.

He's sure within the next day or two the boys will be back to causing chaos once more.

He stops dead in his tracks, a small pit of fury fires up in his gut as his eyes locked on the baby pen.

He doesn't know why he hates that awful piece of furniture so much, but he always looks at it with the upmost disgust.

The air around himself has been tense ever since Dream put it up, but the stress from the two sick littles has kept him distracted from that.

Maybe it has everything to do with the fact that Dream did it without even discussing it with him first, but every time he sees the thing, a fire burns in his chest from anger.

He really does think that Dream was too hard on the baby, because it's partially both of their faults.

He also just doesn't think Dream would've reacted anywhere close to how he did if it was either of the other boys.

Slowly, he shakes his head and turns to head up the staircase towards his bed.

A few of the steps creak under his feet as he cautiously moves up them, the noise piercing into the quiet house.

He pushes the door open, finding Dream up and awake as he types on his phone.

Karl just shakes his shoulders as he heads towards his side of the bed, missing the smile Dream tried to give him as he walked in.

He lets out a deep sigh, not sure if he wants to have a conversation with Dream just yet, or if that's something to wait for when he's actually fully rested and not lingering in left over stress.

His body language gives off 'do not touch me' as he lays on his side and faces away from Dream.

However, he always forgets that the silent meanings lose something between their communication when they aren't on the same page.

Dream yawns from behind him, phone clanking on the bedside table before he turns over and wraps his arm around his waist.

Karl grunts, pushing his arm off, "Don't touch me," he muttered.

"What?" Dream questioned, confused even as he retracted his hand away, "Are you angry with me? Did I do something?"

Karl's eyes roll as he twist to look at the man, face saying 'duh' as if the other didn't already know that.

"I'm sorry for what I did," he said sheepishly, hand rubbing the back of his neck, "Will you at least tell me so I can change it?" His words are hardly above a whisper as he speaks, trying to keep the room quiet around them, almost as if it'll fix everything.

Karl lets out a long sigh realizing the other actually didn't know what he did, because he hadn't voiced his problem with everything to begin with.

He takes in a deep breath before letting himself speak.

"You're not doing right by Bug." He tried putting it simply, but Dream's face contorted into even more confusion.

"What? How?"

"You're being too hard on him..." he trailed off, watching as Dream bit his lip in the dimmed lighting, lamp still on behind his head. "He's such a sweet baby, who made a mistake, and you freaked out."

"Karl, he went outside."

"I know he did, but it's our fault too," he tried stressing.

"How?"

"I left the front door open, neither of us checked up on him, you didn't pay attention when he was feeling small. It's both of our faults and we can't blame him for it."

"The boys were sick, and I didn't know he was small. Plus, he knows better!" he tried to argue back.

Karl is in no mood to fight with the other, so he shuts his mouth before taking a deep breath and speaking more calmly than before, knowing the other will follow his lead and do the same.

"Dream, he's a baby. If I hadn't left the door open, he wouldn't have gone outside. If you want to blame someone, blame me, just don't blame the baby."

"I'm not blaming him; he already got in trouble and went to timeout."

Karl can feel something snapping in his chest, needing to voice the actual problem, other than how Dream's been treating their son that is. So, he opens his mouth again and grits the words out.

"That stupid baby pen, Dream. That stupid baby pen!"

"Is this what it's about? Oh my god," he muttered as he turnt to lay on his back instead of looking at the other.

"You didn't talk to me about it at all; you just freaked out and put it up. That isn't fair to me or Bug, but it definitely isn't fair to Bug. You aren't doing right by him when you treat him like this."

Dream huffs out a breath of frustration, mouth tightening closed and knowing that Karl's right.

He couldn't see much past his own blinders, but he's right.

He hasn't been treating Bug the best.

He sighs as he thinks of a simple solution for the time being.

"I'll take down the baby pen," he sighed again, "and figure something different out that'll keep everyone safe."

"Thank you," Karl whispered, leaning in to press a kiss on his cheek before turning back over again. It wasn't from not wanting to be touched this time, he just knew Dream needed space, even after he kissed him back. "I love you," he said quickly as he turnt around to look at the other again.

"I love you too," he whispered back, pressing another kiss into his skin before Karl laid back again.

Dream turnt his lamp off, coating the room in total darkness as he shifts to get comfortable.

His eyes are only closed for a couple of seconds before guilt begins to bubble up in his chest and he knows he won't be able to sleep for a while.

He lets out a heavier sigh this time, before pushing the covers away from his tired limbs and getting up, he slips house shoes onto his feet to help quiet his steps and slinks into the darkness of the house.

The house really isn't that dark, a couple of well-placed nightlights make sure of that.

It was one of the first things he did for the little's, making sure the house was always a little lit up so they wouldn't get too scared and hurt themselves.

He steps downstairs, hand reaching over and flipping on the overhead light of the living room.

It at least offers him enough light to see most of the bottom floor, even leaking down the hallway enough to make it easy to see the nursery doors.

Effortlessly, he flips the latches that hold the baby pen together and fold it back into itself.

He grunts a little when he picks the entire thing up, making it the short distance back to the closet it came out of and placing it back inside of it.

He taps the door as he closes it, sighing to himself and deciding to go check up on Bug before he heads off to bed.

The sheep mobile jiggles lightly as he pushes the door open, man expecting to find the little asleep in his crib, but instead he finds the baby sitting up and playing with his grey kitty stuffie.

Dream smiles fondly to himself as he steps in the boy's direction, knowing that his Baba put him to bed not long ago and also knowing that the baby's smile makes his own heart warm and fuzzy.

"What're you doing awake?" he asked playfully, voice higher pitched and smiling down at his adorable boy.

"Papa," he gasped, arms shaking happily and making grabby hands at him.

"Little one, you're supposed to be asleep right now," he smiled, pushing a bit of the baby's hair from his face.

Bug just keeps smiling at him happily, bouncing in his spot and begging to be picked up and held by his Papa.

Dream caves in, easily scooping the boy up from his crib, and pressing a kiss onto his cheek.

"Papa," he whispered, rubbing his face against his shoulder.

Dream's smile deepened as he reached down to pull out his orange baby blanket, also grabbing his forgotten pacifier from the middle of his crib.

"You wanna go get a snack baby?"

"'ack!" he cheered back, a little sleepily as he did.

He can tell that neither of them are about to go back to sleep, at least not that easily, so a snack to wind the baby back down will work like a charm.

At least, that's what he hopes as he heads towards the kitchen.

Bug clings onto him a little sleepily, tired fist twisting into the back of his clothing and head pressing lazily against the side of his shoulder.

He presses another kiss to the boy's skin before reaching up into the cabinet and pulling out a panda sippy cup for him.

He pours some cold water into it from the fridge, before pulling out a small bowl and filling it with goldfish.

Bug's smile brightens at the crackers, left fist already reaching down to grab one when Dream holds it in his hand.

He smiled at the boy, holding the bowl up a little higher and letting him grab more as they headed back into the living room.

Dream puts a kids cartoon onto the tv, volume down low enough where it was more background noise than anything else.

He pulled the baby onto his lap, arm tucked around his middle to keep him safe as he ate.

Bug munched happily on the goldfish, legs kicking in front of himself telling Dream as much.

The baby even turnt around pressing one of the fish against Dream's lip and smiling. He squealed happily when his Papa accepted it, eating the offered piece and another one that got pushed towards his face.

"Thank you, baby, you're very sweet." He smiled, reminding the boy as much.

The baby just smiled behind his hand; more goldfish shoved into his mouth as he watched the tv once more. Then, he drunk a little from his sippy cup as well, the cool water refreshing after the salty snack.

Soon enough, both were completely gone, and the baby's eyes begged to fall shut.

Dream isn't quite ready to tell the boy goodbye just yet, so he leans them back on the couch, letting the baby lay against his chest and throwing his baby blanket to cover both of them up.

He can feel his own eyes begin to flutter close, Bug's breathing evening out again as he starts to drift asleep.

He must've started to age up just as he was about to fall asleep because Sapnap's body grows tense against his own and his eyes blink in confusion.

Sapnap pushed himself up from Dream, his blanket falling off his back and around his waist as he did.

Dream follows up after the boy, both of their heads ducked down as an awkward silence tries to settle down between the two of them.

Dream can feel as the air becomes even tenser between the two of them, their sweet moment now ended and a more serious one taking its place.

He knew that it'd have to come soon, he just didn't realize it would be tonight.

Sapnap clears his throat but doesn't look up at Dream again before he's speaking.

"Do you not love Bug?"

Dream's stunned for a moment, needing to shake his head out to figure if he heard what the other said correctly. The conversation he had only an hour earlier weighing heavily on his chest once again.

"What?"

"It's just..." he sighed, hands fidgeting, "You treat him different... you treat me different," his words are a whisper and burn into Dream's skin everywhere they manage to touch him.

"Of course, I love Bug."

Sapnap shakes his head again, needing to put things into perspective for the other.

"If Bean was the one to get outside, would you've reacted the same way?"

Sapnap's eyes are watery when they finally meet again, Dream feels his heart break apart as he leans back against the couch and thinks about what the other asked, more than when Karl asked it earlier.

How would have he reacted?

If Bean had somehow gotten outside, then he wouldn't have hesitated to put Button down and run outside to get the other. He wouldn't've gone through a million of different steps before bringing him inside.

Karl wouldn't have been the one to get him either; Dream's legs would've been the one shaking, his heart racing, and thanking every astral being that the baby was safe and uninjured.

He wouldn't've gotten angry at the boy first - sure - Bean still would've went to timeout for breaking a rule, but he would've been panicked first, not gotten angry.

This isn't the first time he's done this to Sapnap either; why does he find it so difficult to treat them fairly?

He slowly shakes his head, his own eyes beginning to water at the truth.

"What about Button?" Sap whispered.

Dream didn't need to think hardly as hard about the question; Button's the newest baby, he'd be extremely panicked and worried. He's not sure the baby even knows that rule yet; he thought it went unexpressed.

He shakes his head again.

"What makes Bug different?"

"I, honestly, don't know. I guess a small part of me always thought you could handle more. Which is flawed logic, I know. I know, that Bug's still a baby and needs to be treated like one." He huffed to himself, trying to keep himself from crying because he doesn't have a right to do so.

"But, Bug?" he muttered with a wobbly lip, seconds away from breaking down.

Dream wrapped the other up into his arms, pulling him tight against his chest and pressing a kiss into his hair.

"Karl told me that I hadn't been doing right by Bug, and I didn't want to believe him. I didn't want to think I was failing one of my son's, and now I realize that I was. I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. I'm gonna try harder, promise."

Even as it hurt his chest, Sapnap nodded his head in a form of accepting the apology,

"You don't have to accept that Sap," Dream whispered, knowing he needs to give a better one.

"Want too..."

"Why?"

Sapnap pulled back away from him, face covered in snot and tears and hands shaking.

"Because, Bug still needs his Papa, and accepting your apology means Bug gets a fresh start with Papa," Dream could tell that Bug was trying his hardest to swarm to the top, fingers clinching into the back of his shirt once more.

"I'll tell you what Bud," he whispered, waiting for the other to nod, "Tomorrow, big or small, it's just gonna be the two of us together, alright?"

Bug nodded his head, before shoving his face into his Papa's shoulder.

Dream rocked the two of them together, until his baby was calm again, even making sure to match up their breathing to calm him faster.

He grabbed a wet wipe from its place on the table beside the couch to wipe down his face.

With his snot and dried tears gone, Dream pressed his pacifier back inside his mouth once more and smiled down at his boy.

"You wanna sleep with me and Baba tonight baby?"

Bug nodded his head slowly, arms wrapped around him again.

Dream stood up with the other, bringing his baby blanket along with him as he did.

Before he could head up the stairs, Bug started to frantically point in the direction of his nursery. Dream figured he wanted something out of the room first, moving towards it with the boy.

Bug pointed at his stuffed kitty in the crib, so Dream moved to grab it for him.

Bug held it tight in his arms, humming happily.

"All good? Ready for bed now?" Bug nodded his head and this time Dream headed up the stairs with the other.

Karl's soft snores fill the room when he enters, lamp switched on for the baby as he gets placed in the middle of their bed.

Bug happily crawls up beside Karl, wiggling his way under the covers and curling up close to the man.

Dream smiles at the boy, once again throwing his blanket over top of him before crawling under the bedsheets himself.

He curled his arm overtop of Bug, fingers barely gracing over top of Karl's shirt before his eyes close and together the three of them slept.

He meant what he said, he's going to try harder this time and do right by Bug; he'll be damned if he doesn't.

Chapter Text

Buggie woke up slowly, leaning backwards to stretch out his stiff arms in the covers.

A pout forms on his face as his Papa isn't lying beside him like when they fell asleep, however, his Baba still sleeps soundly on the other side of him.

He lost his paci during some part of the night and doesn't know when as he sits himself up.

His orange blanket falls down into his lap, the little pushing it off of himself in frustration as he sat up.

He guesses that its earlier in the morning from the soft strings of light flooding in and because his Baba's still asleep, usually Baba wakes before he does.

He doesn't really care as he pushes himself out of the bed onto wobbly feet, stumbling his way to his Papa's office first and seeing if that's where he went.

He pushes the heavy wooden door open and finds Papa typing on his computer, head cocked sideways as he focuses on the screen.

His pout deepens a little as he looks at his Papa, tears beginning to flood into his eyes.

"You pwomised!" he pouted, making his presence known.

Dream is caught off guard as he turns to look at the boy, eyes widened as he looked at the other.

"Oh no, honey, I still promise. Come mere," he motioned the other.

The baby took careful steps towards his Papa, still pouting with his arms crossed as he made it over.

Dream turnt to meet the baby and pulled him between his legs and held his warm hands.

"I was trying really hard to get this done before you woke so I wouldn't break the promise. Papa didn't expect his baby to wake up this early, but if you give me the time to finish this up, then Papa's all yours baby."

The baby stood there and thought about what he said for a moment, pout falling off his face.

"Otay," he smiled, finding the answer better than being told he's busy like normal.

Dream pulls the baby into his lap, letting the little look at the screen in confusion as he tries to fix something.

His Papa's arms wrapped around his sides and caged him in, the baby's head leaning back against his Papa's shoulder.

"Wat doin?" he questioned.

"It's worked stuff," he stopped for a moment, before deciding to explain farther, even if it bores the baby, "but basically, work emailed me, and said there was a problem with a merch design, and I'm trying to fix it. It shouldn't take me much longer than five minutes, alright?" He explained, trying to keep it simple to understand.

"Mhm," he hummed, kicking his legs in boredom.

Just as promised, Papa finished up his work in fives minutes and turnt of his computer, before turning them out towards the room and helping the boy up onto his feet again.

Bug doesn't pay much attention to the empty blow-mattress as he stands up again.

"All done?" he asked, sticking his finger into his mouth.

"All done baby. Ah, no fingers," he told him pulling his hands away.

Bug pouted up at him, before Dream took an extra pacifier from inside his desk and stuck it into his mouth. The baby sucked it happily, asking his Papa to be picked up and held.

Dream does as asked and they leave his office to go make breakfast for the entire family. Bug babbles behind his pacifier as they head towards the staircase and go into the kitchen.

Dream didn't set the baby down the entire time he made breakfast, the little helping in all the places he could.

It wasn't long until Karl wondered down the staircase and over in their direction, smiling bright at the scene in front of himself.

"Good morning, Bug!" he cheered, more than prepared to pluck the baby from the others arms.

"Baba," he smiled, giving a partial hug, but holding onto his Papa for the most part.

"Morning Dream," he smiled, pressing a kiss onto the others cheek.

"Morning love," he smiled back, quickly pressing a kiss to the others cheek before focusing on the food again.

"What've you been up to this morning Bug?" he asked as he sat at the table, watching his baby in the others arms.

"Papa go'na spen' da whole day wit me!" he smiled, not really answering his Baba's question.

"Is that so LoveBug?" he gasped surprised.

"Mhm," Dream could feel the baby bouncing happily in his arms, most likely smiling brightly at his Baba.

"Well, that's fantastic. What're you and Papa gonna do?"

"Well," Dream started, knowing the baby doesn't have any idea what they're going to do, "I think, we're going to go to the store and pick out some more items for the baby. Other than that, I'm not too sure yet."

"I'm sure it'll be a fun day for him." Karl gave Dream a knowing look, a silent conversation held between them, before Dream started fixing up all of the plates.

"Hope so," he whispered, "You wanna go see if the other two are up to eat this morning?"

Karl nodded his head, before getting up for his spot at the table and heading upstairs to find the other.

In the silence, Dream presses kisses into his baby's skin and receives plenty of them back.

Hopefully, the days off to a good start for the little.

Dream decided that him and Bug would leave about two hours prior to their normal lunch time, changing the baby into a dark blue onesie, his favorite basketball shorts, and a pair of black high tops.

The baby wasn't even that squirmy for once, more excited to spend time with his Papa than anything else.

Before they headed out the front door, Karl handed him a freshly packed diaper bag with all of the baby's items inside of it.

Since Dream isn't that sure what they might end up doing, Karl packed plenty of things that the little might need.

Dream buckled the baby up in the backseat, the boy sitting opposite to the driver's seat to make it easier to watch him, or in case he needs to turn around for any reason.

Baba gives them both a goodbye kiss before they headed off, Dream's only destination in mind, the store.

"Is there anything you want to do today baby?" he asked him as he started to back out of the driveway.

"Can get i' c'eam?" he asked, feet kicking and body bouncing in his spot.

"Sure." He smiled, deciding they'd head there first.

Dream's been trying to think of different solutions to the baby getting outside problem, he thinks he has a solid one already, but it brought up another question he wanted to answer.

If the babies want to be outside, then him and Karl should get them some equipment to play on outside.

They're hoping for when they get the new house that'll have a big backyard for the little's to play around it, so some equipment shouldn't make it too cluttered.

Surely, the babies would like that.

"Buggie?" he asked, taking the turn towards the closet place to get ice cream.

"Hmm?" he hummed from the backseat, smiling out the window as he watched the scenery change as they drove farther.

"When we find a new house, would you like a slide or something in the backyard?" He asked, at least he'll have one baby's opinion.

Bug's eyes widened in excitement, squealing happily to himself, and bouncing even more in his seat.

"'n' 'ings, Papa," he babbled.

"Swings?" he asked to clearify.

Bug nodded his head frantically, loving the idea.

"Okay," he whispered faintly, smiling softly at the other and focusing back on the road.

It seems like that'll be another thing for him to look into, but anything to make the babies happy, for real this time.

If Bug wants a slide and swings, he's gonna make sure the new house has a slide and swings, with a few other things as well.

Who is he if he isn't using his money to buy the babies whatever their hearts might desire?

Not the dad he wanted to be.

His fingers tap anxiously against his stirring wheel as they wait in the drive-thru line, humming softly to himself as they slowly make their way through it.

Dream decided to just get the baby a vanilla ice cream cone, and even splurged a little on himself by getting a chocolate milkshake.

He reaches backwards with the cone and hands it who the boy who takes it happily from his hands, smiling brightly at his Papa and eating it.

"Try not to get it everywhere," he told the boy, even dropping napkins beside him before turning around in his seat again and driving away.

"Otay," he whispered, with a bright smile.

Dream just shook his head and drove them in the direction of the store, bracing himself for the mess that's sure to be in the backseat when they get there, even as his eyes keep flicking backwards to look at the boy.

Dream thought right because Bug has the ice cream smeared all over his face, including a little bit of dribble onto the front of his shirt as he finishes up the cone part of it.

Maybe he should've put a bib or something on the baby first, but it's fine, he knows now.

"You a little sticky baby?" he asked as he turnt the car off, hands unbuckling his seatbelt.

"Mhm, 'm icky Papa," he spoke, showing of his sticky fingers and wiggling them.

"Yeah, sticky, here," he said handing the baby a wet wipe before getting out of the car and walking towards his direction.

Dream opened the boy's door and bent down to his height in the truck to clean up the rest of his face, making sure to wipe it down really good before wiping down his hands as well.

"Is that better?" he asked, checking before getting him out of the truck.

"Bet-tor," he smiled, already making grabby hands before his Papa unbuckled his seatbelt.

"You're a silly baby," Dream laughed, unbuckling him, and pulling him up from his seat.

Dream makes sure to sling the diaper bag over his shoulder before they begin to head inside of the store, Bug sat safely on his Papa's hip and babbling as they headed inside of the store.

He already promised the little that he'd get him whatever it is he wanted when they got into the store, so he sets him down to begin toddling off to wherever he wanted to go and look at whatever he wanted.

Bug's first place he took Papa was the crayon section, because he likes coloring and doesn't really get to do it that often.

He nodded his head happily and promised his Papa that he'd only use the crayons when Papa or Baba was watching him, smiling brightly when his Papa picked up the biggest pack for him.

Bug also picked out a couple of coloring books, one had looney tune characters, one had Scooby-doo, and his last one had blue's clues character. He smiled happily as he held the books up before placing them into his Papa's basket.

Next the baby began to toddle off towards the other toys, eyes scanning across the long aisle of items and thinking very hard about the different toys in it.

He walks down one aisle, fingers gliding across the toys as his does, but nothing really catches his eye, so they head down a different one.

The new aisle they're in is bright pink, filled with different doll types, but that isn't what catches his eyes. No, the baby immediately wonders over towards the tutus at the end, fingers pulling at the different skirts.

Dream doesn't have the heart to tell him that the skirts probably wouldn't be his size, knowing he can just order a similar one that would be his size before the baby ever wondered about the missing item.

"Papa?" he asked, pulling out a green tutu to show him.

"Yeah baby?" he questioned.

"Cans has 'u'u wike dis?"

"Of course, you can," he reassured, watching as the baby placed it back in its spot.

Maybe he already knows and doesn't need to worry about that; he takes a steadying breath as he keeps following after the little

They head down another aisle full of different stuffed animals, Bug humming, before gasping and running towards the middle of the aisle.

Dream's heartrate spiked as he chased after the little, afraid for a second.

"Papa," he squealed, pulling a large Bee plush off the shelf, and holding it up for him to see, "'or Bu'on?" he questioned sweetly.

Dream felt his chest squeeze in fondness at the baby, Karl was right, Bug is a sweet baby and he doesn't know how he could've ever been mean to the baby before.

"You wanna get that for Button baby?"

"Cans I?" he asked, wide eyes begging his Papa to say yes.

"Of course, sweet one," he smiled, taking it from his hands to hold while the baby continued to look up and down the aisle.

He never expected Bug to want to get something for his brother before he even got something for himself; this kid is gonna be the death of him, he loves him so much.

They head down the next aisle, the baby rushing off towards some toy that caught his eye, with Dream not that far behind himself.

Before Dream's even caught up, the baby pulled a plush toy off the shelf and held it in his arms.

"What you got little one?" he asked.

"Bubba?" he asked, holding out a Strawberry shortcake doll.

"For Bean?" he asked as he took the doll out of his hands, the scent of artificial strawberry hitting his nose as he did.

He nodded again, twisting his fingers together and bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Your bubba, gonna love it sweet one." He smiled, actually able to put it inside the basket as the baby was on the move again.

Instead of going down the next toy aisle like he thought the boy would, Bug started walking towards the men's clothes section.

Dream cocked his head to the side in confusion but didn't question it as the boy started to look around.

The baby seems determined as he looks around, eyes finally catching on a blue-knit sweater and looking up at his Papa with wide eyes.

"Do you want that baby?" he asked.

Bug shook his head, which confused Dream even more.

"Baba," he said, causing Dream to nod his head in understanding.

"Yeah, you can get it for Baba." He spoke, holding the basket out.

The baby twisted his head to the side and shook it, moving the different sweaters around before Dream nodded in understanding. He flicked through them before he found Karl's size and handed it to the baby to place in the basket.

He placed it in the basket then signed 'all done' causing Dream to turn his head in confusion again.

"What about something for yourself baby?" he asked, curious why the boy only picked out things for his brothers and Baba.

"Gots colows," he whispered confused, blinking tiredly up at him.

"Do you not want anything else?" he asked, being met with a head shake and grabby hands .

He obliged the little one by picking him up again, having to hand over his brothers bee plush to him first, before he did.

One of Bug's arms wrapped around the bee plush, the other wrapped around the back of his neck and he cuddled into the side of his shoulder.

"Why don't we look at some pacifiers and bottles before heading home? That sound good?"

The baby nodded his head and they headed in that direction.

It came as no true surprise when he found Dix standing in the middle and pulling different items from the shelf before placing them back again.

"Hey stranger," she smiled, her New Zealand accent pulling up Bug's attention.

"Hi Dix," he smiled, stepping in her direction, eyes scanning the shelves as he did.

"Are the boys' feeling any better?" She asked kindly.

"A little better, both managed to keep their food down this morning, so that's something."

"Hi Bug," she greeted when he turned his sleepy eyes toward her; he smiled back, "It's good to hear that though Dream, I know it can be a little hard when two are sick and the third isn't."

"Trust me; I think I'm in for a lecture tonight from Karl about how I've been treating Bug while they were sick," he said, wanting the guilt gone from his chest.

"What'd you mean by that?" she questioned, eyes squinting in confusion.

Bug pointed to a sippy cup set with three different cups, seemingly made for his boys' because one has bee's, another has bear's, and the final one has mermaids. Okay, almost made for his boys, but he's sure Bean will like it anyway, so he plucks it off the shelf.

"We had a mishap with Bug; he got outside a couple days ago while we were caring for his brothers."

"Oh, that's scary," she gasped in empathy.

"Yeah, and I didn't react how I should've, and I've realized that I haven't been treating him fairly. So, I'm using today to begin to change that."

"Ah, I see. Well, that doesn't make you a bad father Dream, because you're at least trying to help and change. In my book, you're only a bad father if you refuse to change."

"Thank you," he smiled, feeling a lot better.

"Karl's a smart man by the way, I really like him."

"Yeah, me too," he laughed.

"You picked a good one to parent beside you; make sure you're actively listening to him for now on okay?"

"Okay," he nodded, knowing that not listening to her advice bites him in the ass, every time.

Bug yawns tiredly in his arms, making his presence known in the conversation again.

The two parents smile at each other before waving goodbye and heading in their separate directions.

Dream makes the check-out as quick and painless as possible before heading out to the car with the other.

The baby is fighting to stay awake as Dream buckles him back in again and shuts the door.

Soon enough, they were on their way back home again.

Once they got home, Bug slept for another hour before he was ready to play again.

He smiled brightly up at his Papa, asking if he could give the gifts to his brothers and Baba as he did. Dream nodded his head and headed outside with him to get the bags from the car.

Bug smiled brightly as he was placed in the middle of the carpet, his two brothers playing nicely with each other.

However, they perked up in curiosity at the rattling of the different bags placed beside their brother.

Bug pulled out the sippy cups and his bag of stuff, handing it up to his Papa before looking at the bag with the stuffed bee inside of it.

"Bu'on?" he beckoned his brother over, the little slowly crawling in his direction.

"Hmm?"

"Giff," he smiled, shoving the bag in his brothers hands.

"'or me?" he questioned, eyes wide in surprise.

Bug nodded his head excitedly, trying to tell him to open it up already.

Button squealed loudly as he pulled the bag backwards, squishing the soft bee plush up against his face and smiling brightly.

"Fank 'u," he couldn't contain his excitement as tears touched his waterline, slowly running down his face as he pressed into the bee.

Bug grabbed the other bag, beckoning his other brother forward with a sweet smile and slightly watching as Papa went to check on Button.

"Giff," he smiled again, also shoving the bag into his other brothers hands.

Bean's fingers trembled a little as he pushed the bag backwards, smiling brightly as he pulled out the Strawberry Shortcake doll and squealed in excitement like Button had.

"'oo wike?" Bug asked, fingers fidgeting with the hem of their Papa's hoodie.

"Mhm, fank 'oo Bug," he smiled, squeezing the doll tightly and sniffling the strawberry scent.

"You got one final gift, right Bug?" Dream asked, watching as the baby's eyes widened and he crawled over towards Karl with a final bag.

He didn't have to say anything as he handed it to his Baba, just sitting back on his butt and smiling at the other.

Karl was careful to pull the sweater out of the bag, gasping in surprise from how nice it is. Small tears and a smile plays across his face as he tumbled forward and pulled Bug into a hug.

"I love it baby, thank you," Baba smiled, pressing a kiss against his cheek.

"Wove Baba," he smiled back before crawling off to go play.

Karl just shook his head at the silly boy, pushing himself back on his hands.

"You were right about one thing Karl Jacobs," Dream said, helping Karl up from the floor and back into his spot on the couch before he sat down beside him.

"About what?" he chuckled, looking over the sweater fondly.

"Bug is a sweet baby, and I'm not sure how I ever missed it." He smiled, watching as Karl smiled just as brightly.

"Told ya, that's why you need to listen to me more."

"Dix said the same thing," he laughed.

"Smart woman."

"Yeah, she is." He smiled again, before pressing a kiss to Karl's lips and turning back to watch their babies again.

There are a few things he's learnt; Karl is right more than he is, Bug is the sweetest baby in the world, and Dix knows what's see's talking about and he needs to listen to her more.

Overall, he's hoped to redeemed himself a little bit to Bug and Karl.

He's doing right by his son; he'll be damned if he doesn't.