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Karl bounced around the house, trilling happily, trying to make sure they had everything they’d need. It was his first time at Orlando Pride and he was super happy to share the experience with his friends and boyfriends. They loved going to Pride parades back in New York, but it was hard to close off such busy streets, even for such a huge event and back then, Karl hadn’t really gotten a sense of themself. But now, they had two boyfriends, a proper identity, and a whole group of friends to go to Pride with.
“Karl, bunny, calm down. Where’s your stim toys?” Sapnap asked, placing gentle hands on Karl’s shoulders.
Karl shrugged, one hand coming up to suck on their fingers. Oh, another thing, Karl was a Little, as were a few of their friends. That’s how he met them, on an LGBT Littlespace Discord server. They all liked playing Minecraft and bonded over that. Then Quackity and Sapnap offered to be his Caregivers and over the course of about three months, he fell in love with them and they with him. So they started dating and their relationship blossomed when Sapnap and Dream offered Karl and Quackity a room in their house.
Quackity moved in first, having no problems because he was in online college. Karl, however, had to get transfers and find the right program for him before he could move in. Luckily, he only had one more year and went to the same school as Dream and Sapnap did.
Sapnap held a hand out to them. “C’mon, bunny. Let’s go find your stim toys.”
Karl took Sapnap’s hand with the one not in his mouth and followed him around the house, looking in the places he usually put his stim toys. They weren’t there and Karl felt tears start to stream down their face. They sucked harder on their fingers as Daddy looked in the kitchen drawer, coming up with only some pencils, tape, and one of George’s pacis, but no stim toys. Karl started to sob, the stress of the day and their Headspace getting to them.
“Oh, bunny. I’m sure we’ll find them. Don’t worry,” Daddy soothed, rubbing his back.
“Noo,” Karl whined, dropping to his knees. “Gone f’evew!”
“Mi amor, what’s wrong?” Quackity asked, walking into the kitchen.
“We’re trying to find their stim toys, but we can’t,” Sapnap explained.”
“Wooked ebywhewe, Papa! No hewe!” Karl sobbed, fully in a meltdown now.
Quackity knelt down next to him. “Conejito, you packed all of them last night, remember? Because you wanted to be prepared for today,” he reminded.
Karl sniffled. “Packed dem?”
“Yeah. Let’s go check your bag and see, sweetie.” Quackity extended a hand and Karl took it, letting the man pull him up.
They walked over to the duffle bag Karl had packed full of any stuff he thought they might need and sure enough, in the front pocket were all of his stim toys, sitting in a colorful pile all tangled together. Karl gasped and clapped his hands, grabbing out a purple fidget cube and pushing the clicker back and forth, mimicking the noise with their tongue.
Both Caregivers watched him fondly, sharing a gentle kiss as they watched their Little calm himself down. There was creaking on the stairs and they all looked over, seeing Dream carrying George, who was dressed in a light blue shirt and rainbow overalls and sucking on a light blue paci with a rainbow decal clipped to it. He was babbling to Dream, clearly deep in Babyspace, head rested on his Caregiver’s shoulder.
“Oh? Was that a good dream, baby?”
George just nodded, content to stay in his Papa’s arms. Karl noticed him and jumped up, grabbing a light blue fidget spinner from their bag and holding it out for the Baby.
“Geowgie wan?” they asked, tilting their head.
George took the toy, holding it with unsteady hands and looking at it with confused eyes.
“Spin,” Karl told him, before seemingly remembering something and skipping up the stairs. Sapnap and Quackity shared a look before Quackity jogged up after him.
Sapnap and Dream chuckled before Dream turned back to the still adorably confused George, who was trying to figure out whether or not to put his newfound toy into his mouth. Before he could, however, Dream carefully spun it, making sure the Little could see its every movement. George looked absolutely mesmerized by the fidget spinner, the gears in his brain trying to figure out how it worked. When it stopped, he whimpered, trying to spin it again, but his hand was in the way, so it spun for a bit, then stopped. Tears streamed down his cheeks and he tucked his face into his Papa’s neck, whining.
“Oh, big tears, huh, Gogs?” Dream rubbed his back. “Let Papa help you, baby boy.” He took the fidget and spun it, the noise alerting George, who peeked out from his Papa’s neck and watched the toy.
Sapnap’s phone rang and he stepped away to answer it, signaling to Dream that he’d be back in a bit. Quackity walked down the stairs, sans Karl and when Dream gave him a look, he just shrugged.
“I guess they had to go potty and get changed and they didn’t want me to see their outfit yet,” he explained, grabbing his phone and checking his Snapchats. “Tommy’s asking us where we are. I guess they’re already there. Oh, and I guess Techno’s bringing his roommate, too. His name’s Wilbur. So, that bumps our group up to…15 now. Is that okay?”
“Yeah, sure, I mean, not too big a difference. Is he LGBT?” Dream asked, bouncing George slightly as he walked to the kitchen to grab a bottle.
“I’ll ask.” A beat. “No, he’s an ally, but according to Techno, he doesn’t have anything to do and Tech is sick of him watching Forensic Files all day and night.”
“Valid. Least we can do is make friends with him.” Dream shook the bottle of angel milk he was making before putting it in the bottle heater.
“Yeah. I mean-” Quackity stopped, looking to where the stairs were creaking.
Karl was standing there, in nothing but a pull up, blinking innocently at the three standing in the kitchen. “Whewe Daddy?” they asked, tilting their head.
Quackity walked toward the steps. “Hon, where are your pants?”
Karl acted like they didn’t hear him. “Whewe Daddy?” they repeated.
“Your Daddy went to take a call, honey,” Dream told them. “Can you tell us where your clothes are, please?”
“Wan Daddy.”
“Lovebug, Daddy’s busy. Can Papa help you with something?”
Karl shook their head. “No wan Papa. Sup’ise. Need Daddy.” They started to whine, fingers coming up into their mouth.
Fortunately, Sapnap came back over, putting his phone back in his pocket. “Hey, uh…What’s going on?”
“Daddy! Need hewp.”
“Okay, baby. Let Daddy help you.” Sapnap followed him upstairs, holding out his hand.
Karl held his hand with the one not currently in their mouth and followed their Daddy upstairs. Usually, Caregivers preferred to give their Littles pacis so they wouldn’t get sick or hurt themselves, but Karl didn’t like the feel of the silicone on their tongue. They had chewies that they could use, but as mentioned before, everything was packed into their bag.
Quackity was left standing at the edge of the kitchen, trying to blink back the tears in his eyes. He felt hurt that Karl didn’t want his help, but more than that, he felt useless. How was he supposed to be a Caregiver if he couldn’t even help his Little?
Dream seemed to pick up on his frustration, because he set George down at the kitchen table with a gentle, parting kiss on the nose and then walked over to Quackity, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.
“Hey, I’m sure they didn’t mean it personally. You know how blunt they can get sometimes,” he offered in consolation.
“I know. I just wish I could help them more.”
“I know. Sharing Caregiver responsibilities can be hard. You should talk about how you feel with Sapnap and maybe Karl when they’re Big again. It’s not good to keep your feelings inside, Q. Plus, they deserve to know. They’re your partners,” Dream reminded, giving his shoulders a little shake.
“I will. I promise. Just not today. We’ve already got a lot on our plates today.”
“I get it.”
“PAPA!”
There were thudding footsteps on the stairs and Karl came rushing down, throwing himself into Quackity’s arms and kissing the man’s cheek. Quackity felt a swell of love flood through his body as he wrapped his arms around Karl, rubbing his back.
“Wook a’ my ou’fit!” Karl stepped back, holding out his arms to show his Papa what he was wearing.
Quackity started to tear up again, but this time they were happy tears, because Karl was wearing a “Quackity, my beloved” shirt with a bisexual flag pin near the left sleeve. There was a large asexual flag pinned to his shoulders. He was wearing a black Sapnap hat with a fire emblem in the middle and pastel shorts in pink, yellow, and blue. He was also wearing his beloved Vans with socks in the genderfluid and polyamorous flag colors printed on them.
“Papa? Why cwy?” Karl asked, making Quackity realize he hadn’t said anything for a while. “I go hewp.” They rushed off to the kitchen, grabbing a couple tissues from the box on the counter and grabbing a bottle of apple juice from the fridge. When they came back, they held their items out to their Papa.
“Thank you, darling. Papa’s not sad, just surprised.”
“Yay! Dis Papa’s s’pwise. Dis why Papa no hewp. Tause dis fow him. Wight, Daddy?” Karl looked to where Sapnap was standing on the landing, leaning against the wall.
Sapnap pushed himself away from the wall, uncrossing his arms and smiling. “Yep. They planned it out just for you, αγάπη μου. They told me exactly what they wanted to wear and put it on themself. Really, they just needed help pinning the flag to their shirt, isn’t that right, αστεράκι μου?”
Karl nodded proudly, beaming before remembering that they all had somewhere to be. “We gotta go! Gotta go! Gonna be wate! C’mon! C’mon!” They pulled on their Caregivers’ hands, trying to tug them toward the door.
“Woah, conejito, calm down. The parade isn’t going anywhere. We’re not going to miss anything. Plus, Daddy and Papa need to get dressed and ready,” Quackity told him, gently pulling back.
“Oh. I sowwy.”
“That’s alright, darling. Daddy’s already dressed, so he can help you check all our bags to see if they’re ready.” Sapnap slipped his hand into Karl’s and led the Little to the bags by the door, peeking into them to make sure they had everything.
Growing up in Texas, the youngest of their group never showcased his pride on his sleeve for safety reasons. Sure, his family was okay with it, but no one else in his town was. He knew who he was and that was all that mattered to him. So he was wearing his typical T-shirt and basketball shorts as well as a Balenciaga hat. His only Pride items were the woven bracelets on his wrist, one in the colors of the pansexual flag and the other in the colors of the polyamorous flag. He also wore a locket around his neck with the pictures of his partners in it.
“Okay, so we’ve got your fidgets in this bag. All of them, αστεράκι μου?”
“Yes, Daddy. Wanna shawe.”
“Alright. Do we have pull-ups and diapers in this duffle bag? Yep. A couple extra pacis and some flags? Karl, did you put pride flags in our bag?”
“Mhms. Wan’ed to have some fow ebewyone! So shawe!”
“I see, darling. Okay. Do we have some water bottles in here, too?”
“No yet. Wan dem to be cowd. So dey in da fwidge. Bu has ‘nackies. See. Gow’fish an fwui’ ‘nacks.”
“I see them, αστεράκι μου. Did you bring enough to share?”
“Yes, Daddy. Aways nough to shawe.”
“Good. Are you hungry or thirsty at all?”
“Um, tan has appie juice? Pease? Whiwe Papa ge’s weady,” Karl requested, twisting his fingers together.
“Of course, αστεράκι μου. C'mon. Let's go get you some juice.”
Sapnap stood and led the Little to the kitchen, getting him a sippy cup of juice. Karl drank, loving the sweet taste of their favorite drink. They offered it to Sapnap, who took a sip of it with a smile.
“Thank you, αστεράκι μου. That’s very tasty.”
“Bu Daddy wike owan juice bettew.”
“That’s right, darlin’.” Sapnap looked over to the stairs and saw Quackity. “ήλιε μου, you look stunning.”
He was wearing a gray shirt with white text that said I like my men how I like my women on it over a bisexual pride flag, black jeans with rips in the knees, and black sneakers with bisexual and pansexual laces. His hat was the colors of the bisexual flag with a pansexual flag pin and a poly flag tied around his shoulders. On one cheek, he’d painted the bisexual flag and on the other, the poly flag.
“Papa so pwetty, Daddy,” Karl whispered to Sapnap, not quite as quietly as they should have been.
“Yes, he is, darling,” Sapnap agreed, not taking his eyes off of his boyfriend. “We should go. Niki called and told me she, Puffy, and Minx are already there. They should have met up with Tommy, Ranboo, and Tubbo by now, but we should start heading out. Dream, Georgie, you guys ready?”
Dream looked over. “Yeah. We’re ready to go, right baby?” He lightly bounced the Little on his hips.
George, who was still entranced by the fidget spinner, just hummed, sucking on his paci in agreement. They packed the waters and some cold juices, then piled into the van and headed to where they said they’d meet their friends. They parked along a street a couple blocks away from the parade and walked to where they said they’d meet up with everyone. They saw all of their friends, Tommy, Ranboo, Tubbo, Niki, Minx, Puffy, and Techno, as well as someone who was standing near Techno. He was wearing a yellow shirt with ¾ sleeves, acid wash black jeans that had rips in the knees, and black Converse with yellow laces and yellow rubber. His curly brown hair had a white streak at the front of it and he was looking around in a mixture of awe and fear, as if he’d been dragged out of bed to a place he’d always wanted to go.
“Where are Bad and Skeppy?” Sapnap asked, looking around for his pseudo fathers.
“Got stuck in traffic for a bit. You miss us?” came Skeppy’s voice from a bit away.
“As if. Just didn’t want you to miss out on the fun,” Sapnap scoffed, turning to them.
“Sappy miss us?” Bad asked, tilting his head. The way he was holding Skeppy’s hand and looking at Sapnap with big, brown eyes clearly showed his Littlespace.
Sapnap smiled. “Course I missed you, bubba. Couldn’t start the fun without you.” He ruffled the Little’s hair, then turned to the rest of the group. “Are we ready?”
They all nodded and were about to start heading toward the fun, but Karl stopped them. Quackity looked back at them.
“What’s wrong, conejito? Do you need to potty?”
“No, Papa. Bu’ new fwien’. Need intwoductons.”
“You’re right, αστεράκι μου,” Sapnap praised before turning to Techno and his friend. “I’m Sapnap. He/him.”
“Quackity. He/him.”
“‘M Kawl. He/him ow dey/dem.”
“I’m Dream, he/him and this is George, he/him.”
“Skeppy, he/him.”
“Bad, he/him.”
“Minx, she/her.”
“Niki, she/her.”
“Puffy, she/her.”
“Tommy, he/him.”
“Tubbo, he/him.”
“Ranboo, any pronouns. Just preferably not it/its.”
The other nodded, taking in the information he was given before speaking. “Um, I’m Wilbur. Uh, he/him pronouns? Right? That’s what we’re talking about? I’m not LGBT, but I’m an ally and apparently, I don’t get out of the apartment a ton. I’m Techno’s roommate and he dragged me here, but it’s great to meet you all.”
They all started off toward where the parade was supposed to be, marching with their respective flags, Karl handing out the ones from their bag. When the parade part of Pride was over, they all went around to different booths and played games and got face paint and henna for a few hours before finding a picnic table in the shade and grabbing some lunch. It was a bit farther away from the whole event, but they were still surprised when someone called out to them.
“Fucking fags!” he called.
Sapnap, always with a fiery temper, stood up. “Excuse me?”
“Why are you hanging out with these gays man? You know they’re a fucking poison to the Earth, right?”
Sapnap balled his fists up. “First of all, shut the fuck up. There’s nothing wrong with being gay. Second of all. We’re in the middle of Pride. If you’re gonna be a homophobe, do it somewhere else,” he growled.
“Why? Freedom of speech. If your friends are gonna be a bunch of sinning faggots, go fuck somewhere else. Why do you even hang out with these pathetic losers?” the guy asked.
“Honestly, dude? You’re about three seconds away from being punched in the face. Freedom of speech? We can use that, too. And these ‘pathetic losers’ are my friends. And guess what, asshole? Two of them are my boyfriends. So if you have a problem with that, get the fuck out of here before I smash your fucking face in,” Sapnap threatened, getting closer and closer to the man as he spoke. He could tell everyone, especially the Littles were getting upset and he needed to take care of things as soon as possible.
“Whatever. Fuck you all, faggots!” the guy yelled, stalking away.
Sapnap would’ve gone after him, but he had a Little to take care of and it was clear Quackity’s Headspace was creeping up on him. Sapnap rushed over, pulling both into his arms.
“Shh, αγάπες μου. It’s okay. Daddy’s got you. You’re okay, babies. Hey, Tech. Quackity’s paci is in the purple bag. Can you grab it for me?”
“Yeah, sure.” Techno reached into the bag and grabbed the dark blue duck paci, handing it to Sapnap, who gently popped it into Quackity’s mouth before shielding him from prying eyes.
“Thank you.”
“Do you want Karl’s chewie, too?” Techno asked, noticing how the Little was biting at their lip.
“Please. Karl, sweetpea, don’t bite at your lip, that’ll make it go owie.”
“I sowwy, Daddy.”
“It’s okay, αστεράκι μου.” Sapnap gently pushed the Lego-shaped chewie into Karl’s mouth.
“Why say dat, Daddy?” Quackity asked, looking up. “We dat meanie wowd?”
“No. No, baby. You’re not. None of you are.” Sapnap made sure that all of them could hear him. “Some people are just mean and they don’t know what they’re saying. They haven’t gotten to know you yet and they say things about you that aren’t true and that shouldn’t be said about anyone. Understand?”
There were confirming noises all around.
“I think we should all head back to our house for a movie and ice cream. How does that sound, little ones?”
A series of happy noises went up around the group. It might not have been a perfect day, but it had started and ended pretty well.