𝚂𝚖𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝟻

A Stormy Night

"Holy shit!" Smg3 abruptly woke up in the middle of the night because of the roar of thunder outside; it's been raining like this for the past few nights and Smg3 was always a light sleeper so he was used to waking up like this but these were some of the nights when he wished he wasn't. He tried to silence the sounds by covering his ears with his pillow until he felt a soft campaign snuggle up next to him, he peeked his eye out and saw that his Eggdog was slightly trembling.

Smg3's heart became soft, "Aw, did the rain wake you up, buddy?"

Smg3's carefully stroked the back of Eggdog in an attempt to soothe him. Eggdog slowly started feeling at peace with Smg3's comfort and drifted back to sleep; It brought 3 relief to see that Eggdog could go back to sleep but then someone had just started to wake up too and they were very vocal about it.

"Aw shit..." Smg3 sat up from his bed and left Eggdog in his room so that he could go to Smg5's to attempt to go and comfort her for the night.

He opened the door but only to see that Smg5 was bawling her eyes out in her crib; it also made Smg3's heart go soft to see that, he never did like hearing the kid cry.

"Hey there kid...rain woke you up too, huh?" He carefully made his way over to her crib, "Don't worry, I wasn't planning to go back to sleep anyway..." As soon as Smg3 bent over to bring Smg5 out of the crib, 5 began to hold Smg3 tight to her while she cried into his chest; the added wind and rain only made it harder for her to calm down.

"It's alright...it's okay...it's just a little bit of thunder, I promise it won't kill you." Smg3 tried soothing her by slowly rubbing his hand back and forth on her back while trying to figure out what else he could do, "Alright, let's try this instead..."

Smg3 then started to sing a soft song to her, hoping that she would focus more on his singing than the rain and soon Smg5's loud cries began to falter; Smg3 never considered himself a great singer but his singing voice was soothing to Smg5. Smg5 began to open her crying eyes so she could look at Smg3's.

Smg3 began to smile down at her, "Feel better now?"

Smg5 then began to snuggle up her head back on Smg3's shoulder in this state and Smg3 continued to sing while the rain was calming itself down as well for it to begin to turn into sleet and only for that sleet; it was the middle of winter after all. Now that the weather was still and the added melody of Smg3's song, 5 started to drift off to sleep in Smg3's arms.

Smg3 was relieved that his half-bad singing managed to get her calm like this; It made him feel warm inside for whatever feeling and it was a feeling he knew very well. He felt it when Smg5 called him "Dada,", he felt it when he would see that look in her eyes and he felt it when he was able to calm her down on nights like this. Those were all the feelings he'd known but he never really understood why but being alone, in this room, with her like when he was with her so many nights before made him realize something. This feeling was love and he really loved this kid, more than he would probably like to admit.

"I didn't know you could sing," Smg3 nearly jumped when he heard that but when he turned around he only saw Smg4 leaning against the door frame with somewhat of a smirk on his face.

"Dude, I just got her sleep." 3 silently hissed at him, "How long have you been there anyway?"

"Long enough to hear you sing." Smg4 shrugged as he stepped inside the room, "Honestly, I'm impressed...you really know how to handle her."

"I try..." Smg3 gave a short chuckle, "If I'm being honest here...I mostly just wing it."

"Really? You? I find that hard to believe."

"Well, that's the truth..." As gently as he could, Smg3 then set 5 in her crib with steady hands, "Honestly I impress myself sometimes."

"Yeah..." Smg4 paused when looking down at Smg5 sleeping there, "I wonder if...I'll be able to do what you do one day..."

"I- what?" Smg3 broke his attention off from 5, "4 you- what do you mean? You probably do more than I do sometimes."

"Well...I-I mean, you and I treat her so differently and look how she-" Smg4 was struggling to find the words for what he was feeling, "I'm...nothing like that..."

"You're not supposed to be me 4," Smg3 looked at him with more intention than before, "Listen, I can assure you that you are doing your best but, this isn't supposed to be easy."

"I know it isn't," Smg4 groaned as he backed away from Smg3 and the crib at the same time, "I can't help but feel so...inferior."

Now this revelation shocked Smg3; never in his life would he think he would ever hear the words "Smg3" and "inferior" in the same sentence unless it was negative. Maybe back then 3 would have loved to hear that pretty little sentence from Smg4 back when they were rivals and were always messing with each other. But this was different, things have changed, he has changed and as much as he hated to admit it, he wouldn't have changed if wasn't for 4.

"You're not inferior..." Smg3 broke the silence, "Smg5 might be closer to me but that doesn't mean she doesn't need you."

"Yeah, I believe that for like 5 seconds..." Smg4 only scoffed at this, "You could probably raise her so much better if I weren't here."

"Smg4, I wouldn't be able to do any of this if it weren't for you." Smg3's tone was quiet but firm as he spoke, "I need you as much as she does."

"What?" Smg4 then looked at 3 in the eyes now, "You...actually need me?"

"As much I hate to admit it..." Smg3 sighed, "...I do..."

"I-...why?"

"Because we taking care of her together," 3 emphasized that last part, "If either of us were trying to raise this kid alone, who knows what would happen?"

"That's...true..." Smg4 slightly muttered, "Still...I can't help but feel like I'm not doing enough..."

"Listen, she may have called me "Dad" but," Smg3 then put his hand on 4's shoulder, "That isn't a reason for you to give up, she needs both of us...not one of us..."

Smg4 then managed to give a small but sad smile back at Smg3, "You really think so?"

"I know so, you really have come a long way, 4."

Smg4's small smile started to look more genuine this time, "You know...I had my doubts at first but...I'm really glad we're taking care of 5 together."

"I uh-" Smg3 started to feel himself blush but he tried to brush it off, "Y-yeah...same here..."