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The day seemed to be going great so far;
Phantom had woken up dropped, coming to Swiss’s room early in the morning with his knitted by Cumulus bat. He was sniffling but Swiss managed to figure out that be didn’t have a nightmare but just wasn’t sleeping well. After some soothing words and warm cuddles they both fell asleep again though, waking up again when the sun was shining bright
Phantom seemed to be in much better mood now that he had gotten some good sleep. Swiss made him breakfast and after fussing around for a bit Phantom asked to go for a walk. The day was sunny and a bit chilly, but little quint was happily playing in tall grass, finding different bugs and insects which he was excitedly rattling about to Swiss, who was sitting in the soft shadow of a big oak tree, his back pressed against its trunk as he looked after little quint.
He sincerely cherished moments like this, when Phantom was feeling safe and free, out exploring the world like it was his first time on the topside. He wasn’t particularly accustomed to dropping yet, more often feeling uncomfortable when it happened than not so Swiss was glad that he was slowly but surely easing more and more into this headspace, feeling safe and comfortable there. Swiss was glad he could have that happy place for himself
In the meantime, over and above, he was enjoying the way he could sit outdoors on loose earth, feeling the heart of the nature pump, its energy running through his veins as the sun was pleasantly warming his body where it was slipping through the leaves and reaching him
“Swiss, look!” Phantom squealed happily approaching him with something that he gently carried in his palms.
“Watcha got there?” he asked with a wide smile, trying to see what Phantom was holding. Something turned out to be a stag beetle
“It’s got antlers…like Mount!” Phantom exclaimed
“Well, technically…yeah!” Swiss laughed wholeheartedly how the little ghoul found such a cute association. “Be careful with him though, don’t want those horns to hurt you”
“Can I go…show it to Mountain?” Phantom asked and those big purple puppy eyes full of pure excitement left Swiss no choice
“Go on, bug” Swiss left a quick peck in between little quint’s horns
“Swiss! I’m not a bug!” he giggled
“Of course you are” Swiss insisted, making a conceited serious grimace like he didn’t know what Phantom was talking about. “Now go before the other bug that’s in your hands decides it wants to be elsewhere”
The greenhouse wasn’t very far, Swiss should to able to see Phantom the whole way down there and he was pretty sure Mountain was somewhere around it so he let Phantom go on his own
Swiss watched the little ghoul happily wander to the greenhouse, keeping an eye on the beetle in his hands at all times, making sure it was fine
Swiss kept an eye on Phantom until he saw him disappear behind the walls of greenhouse. He was enjoying the rustle of the leaves on the tree until he, well, wasn’t.
He didn’t really have that kind of bond with Phantom when he could just feel when something was wrong but right now he just did and be it his overprotectiveness of little ones, he did not care at that moment one bit
The first second he just thought it was his anxiety messing with him but the next moment he was running to the greenhouse, the worst-case scenarios blasting through his mind
“Phantom?” he called before he even entered the greenhouse
When he did, he froze in place, trying to figure out what the Hell happened. Phantom was sitting on the ground, crying and holding his hands together while Mountain was crouched beside him, apparently trying to soothe him
Mountain spotted Swiss first, moving aside a little so Swiss could come closer
“What happened?” Swiss looked at Mountain panicky, not understanding what was happening but he could clearly see that Phantom wasn’t in a state to tell him
“He came here apparently to show me a bug…but the bug bit him and then he stumbled and fell with his hands on the floor and you know…there’re a lot of dirt and what not around here and with those wounds…” Mountain had a pitiful look on his face, almost as if he felt guilty for the accident
“Phantom? Can you look at me?” Swiss crouched right beside him taking Mountains spot
Phantom did look at him but it didn’t seem like he could see Swiss properly, struggling to make eye contact and he clearly wasn’t quite able to say anything, only quiet little sobs echoing through the air
Swiss somehow managed to calm him down to a state where Phantom wasn’t shaking and crying his soul out but he was still deeply upset. Swiss walked him back to the Abbey;
It took some time to convince Phantom to show Swiss his palms and let him clean them up.
He started crying again, afraid that Swiss was gonna hurt him and while deep down he logically knew Swiss would never, he couldn’t help that feeling as panic was rapidly rising
At some point Swiss wanted to go get someone else who would be better at comforting littles but again, unofficially being Phantoms main caregiver and at the same time being basically the one who cared about everyone made him the responsible adult here
Eventually Swiss just kneeled before Phantom, looking at him sympathetically. There might have been some annoyance but it wasn’t towards Phantom, he was just sad he couldn’t help him
“You know you’re gonna be the death of me” Swiss mumbled quietly with a little smile, moving closer to the little quint to just take a break and give him a hug
“Let’s try it this way” Swiss started speaking softly again after a minute, “You’ll go clean your hands with running water by yourself, I won’t do anything…and then we’ll see. Alright?”
Phantom was silent for a few moments but then nodded hesitantly as best as he could being pressed to Swiss’s side
With little sniffles still present, Phantom got up on wobbly legs coming closer to the sink and turning on hot water. He managed to wash his hands and surprisingly enough, it didn’t hurt as much as he had expected it to
“Can I see now?” Swiss asked, extending his arms towards the little quint but not daring to touch him without consent
Phantom pondered for a brief second but shoved Swiss his palms, still watching closely for each of his movements
“Looks alright…”
In fact, it did. There wasn’t any blood, just a few little marks from where the bug tried to poke Phantom’s hand
“Swiss…” he whispered not even looking multi in the eyes
“Yeah?” Swiss was delightfully surprised that Phantom started talking again
“I’m sad…” his ears were hanging low and he wrapped his tail around his calf to keep himself safe and secure
“Because of the bug?” Swiss asked, moving closer and rubbing soothing circles on the small of Phantom’s back
“Yeah…I was being nice to him and thought he was nice to me too…”
Little Phantom looked so genuinely upset because he wanted to be friends with some bug that it was breaking Swiss’s heart and making him go soft at the same time. He was just so pure and kind
“Well…perhaps that bug just got scared? Or maybe he wanted to play with you in that kind of way?” Swiss tried to come up with something, anything that would help comfort Phantom but nothing seemed to come to mind, nor was it helping
Ultimately, the two just sat on the floor of a bathroom until Phantom had calmed down enough and then they just moved to the couch in the commons, taking some snacks with them to watch a movie
Swiss had to text Mountain to let him know that Phantom was alright and he managed to calm him down because Mountain was stressing so much Swiss could feel it in the air even so far away
Oh Satanas, help them with how much love and kindness that little quint has to spare…