It was an absolute nightmare.
All the kids were asleep but Hermodactyloides and Jasper. It only took a moment with them alone for the two to go wild. No matter what Gibson did, they never truly calmed down enough for him to handle. They were too hyperactive for him and he didn't know what to do. Thankfully they didn't make a mess of the lab, but there wasn't anything he could do that he thought would work.
At that moment, Gibson tried to take deep breaths under a desk. He had to be able to think clearly in order to do anything. His heart started pounding when he heard something other than the kids. He snapped his head to that direction and, thankfully enough, it was Antauri walking over to him. He bent down onto one knee and placed his hand onto Gibson's shoulder.
"Are you okay?" Antauri asked. "Do you need help with Hermo and Jasper?"
Gibson nodded immediately. He desperately needed the help. He couldn't handle the two on his own. Antauri's hand went down his arm and they held his hand. They helped him get up from under there. Antauri held his other hand up and Hermodactyloides and Jasper stopped moving; the kids floated in the air as they were moved towards Antauri. They gently landed in his arms and they held the two firmly.
Jasper saw her tail and tried to go after it. Dactyle looked up at Antauri and started touching his face. He could only chuckle.
"If you were having trouble, Gibson, you could've woken one of us up." Antauri stated.
Gibson shook his head. "No, there's a reason why we all have shifts. I can't wake any of you up when you need the rest."
"That is true, however you know we're always willing to help out."
"I know, but you'll need the energy with them. Disturbing your sleep won't be helpful." Gibson argued.
"Then we can talk about doing two person shifts from now on so we can prevent this situation from happening again."
Antauri rocked the two and, almost instantly, they became calm. Gibson swore he didn't know how he did it. He did the same things they did and he never got the same, calming effect. Despite being with Antauri for years now, Gibson always found something new to appreciate about him, this being one of them.
Of course, he still had one question.
"What are you doing up, anyway?" He asked. "Shouldn't you be asleep?"
"Couldn't get back to sleep," they answered.
"Well, thank you for helping out."
He kissed him before kissing the kids on the foreheads. Jasper laid her hands on Gibson's face with a huge smile on her face. She tried to reach one of the antennae on his helmet and nearly fell off Antauri's arm. Gibson quickly caught her before she got halfway to the ground. That in of itself nearly gave him a heart attack.
In all honesty, Gibson was glad he didn't have to do the rest of the night by himself.
