Babysitter's Club

[catchacold]

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[boilover]

"Hey." Mick kicked the kid gently, trying to get his attention. He had been sleeping out here for about two days now and he seemed clean, he hadn't wandered off and come back high, he never had a bottle of booze in his hand and he didn't seem sick. Kind of pale and shivering but it was winter and he was homeless so what was to be expected. Mick stood there in his battered old winter coat that didn't have any insulation left, shivering himself as he held a whimpering child, barely not cry and only because he had a pacifier in his mouth.

The baby was in a very thick, warm onesie, his hood up with little bear ears on it, someone had clearly spent a lot of money on the baby, even if Mick looked pretty worse for the wear. No one living in this area exactly looked ritzy. He held the baby and gently rocked it as he bounced on his feet, trying to stand this fucking cold. It wasn't vastly better inside but at least he and Leonard had hooked up a load of portable heaters in his place.

"Are you clean? Like no drugs? Or germs? You got all your shots?"

[mostlyajerk]

"I didn't take anything!" Hartley sat up and pulled his hoodie tighter around himself, pulling one hand out of the kangaroo pocket to lift it and show his innocence. He'd been beaten up for supposedly stealing drugs before, he didn't want a repeat of that. Although, admittedly, the last time no one involved had been carrying a really cute baby, so that was strange. "I'm clean."

He knew what that meant, at least. He was even relatively clean otherwise, at least comparatively speaking, since even with the cold, he'd braved cleaning himself and his clothes on a public bathroom just a few days ago, because he just couldn't deal with feeling that dirty. He'd regretted that decision when he felt that he was close to dying of exposure, but it was where he was headed here anyway, so he might as well die while clean.

"I didn't do anything," he reiterated, then frowned as another possibility occurred to him, "And I don't provide those types of services."

[boilover]

"... I'm holding a baby and you think I want my dick sucked? What's a matter with you?" Mick asked bluntly and stared down at the kid. He was about as pathetic as he looked from the window, there was no denying it and he talked fancier than most homeless kids. The speech pattern alone. It was obvious he was new to being homeless, he was pretty skittish too. Must have learned some hard lessons. "Whatever. You better not be lying to me. If you're lying to me, I'm going to hurt you."

And he was serious. No one lied to him when it came down to his little boy. No one. "Stand up."

He gestured vaguely with his hand and as he did it, the movement disturbed Teddy who started to cry again. As he cried, his pacifier fell out out his mouth and Teddy watched it fall in silence, his eyes watering before the crying became even louder. Right in Mick's fucking ear. Great, he was going to need a new pacifier. "It's okay, buddy. They're a dime a dozen, we'll get a new one." He whispered to Teddy as the baby whimpered and wailed.

[catchacold]

What time are you free today?

[boilover]

Depends on if someone can watch Teddy. As always.

You?

[catchacold]

Actually Leonard had just stopped by to pick up Mick, but since Mick was insistent on waiting on his back-up babysitter, aka Axel, and Leonard thought watching Hartley and Axel meet could potentially be hilarious, he didn't whine over having to wait a while longer. Instead he sat on the kitchen counter, ate ice cream and watched Mick with perhaps a bit too much of a smirk. He really had to stop that. "You look good."

Meanwhile Hartley was playing a game with Teddy that just involved pulling his snuggle blanket over his face and then moving it back again. Teddy was very entertained, giggling like the suspiciously happy child he was.

[boilover]

"Thanks." Mick smirked in return because he'd put a little effort into things. He was wearing a shirt without spit-up on it, his hair was done for the first time in about a week for once and he didn't smell of talc. It was a win, really. Mick leaned on the counter, slowly eating a cookie as he watched Hartley play with him. Oh yeah, he picked so well. "He loves Hartley, I told you he was worth the risk. Weird or not, the little freak is great with him." Mick said. And may have said a tiny bit too loud. He didn't have the best sense of volume control. "Yours is running late."

Yes, Axel was now 'Leonard's' because he called dibs on six languages, super genius Hartley. That kid was so his, he was a real winner. Axel wasn't. He was late already and by the time the door knocked, Mick rolled his eyes and went to answer it. "At least he's only five minutes late this time."

[boilover]

Teddy said bottle

My boy is a fucking genius!!!

[catchacold]

He is!

Did he actually say "bottle" or is this like when he said Leonard?

[viber]

what's cracking boo?? 👻

[midastouches]

Cute ghost. ;)

Nothing much, just having pizza with some friends and my brother's family.

[boilover]

diapers have sizes

what sizes is for like a small baby? do you know? what did lisa have???

[catchacold]

They say the ages on the side. For babies you have to look at '1-3 months' or whatever's applicable. They even have some that are by weeks.

...why?

[midastouches]

"That's him," Lisa pointed out, waving to Cisco with her free hand, because the other was holding Axel's, who never minded that. Hartley was on her other side, pushing Teddy in his stroller, where the baby was very happily holding his bear and looking around.

Abandoning the three boys, Lisa ran to meet Cisco, leaning down to kiss his cheek. "You look like a dork."

[viber]

"I don't." Cisco pouted but he kind of did. He looked like some kind of urban fashion nightmare and he was wearing way too much cologne, it didn't really help him seem more mature. If anything, he looked younger. Axel had a moment of pause as he looked at him, giving Hartley a confused look. The kid looked like twelve!

Cisco looked over at the other boys and felt his stomach sink. They looked so much better than him. The one pushing the strolled had this whole cool hobo chic thing going on and he looked so street and the one that was holding her hand had muscles. Honest to God muscles. And he was in a freaking sleeveless shirt in this weather? He must have been hardcore. He felt a momentary surge of panic and took Lisa's hand, smiling at her. "I have money." Wait. No. That sounded bad. "For food and stuff. For us. And I have new shoes." He was trying to be smooth but mostly, it sounded braggy. Awkwardly braggy.

[trickedya]

Hey perv

how much do you love me? ;)

[catchacold]

Depends on a lot of factors.

What do you need?

[catchacold]

How is Axel doing today?

[boilover]

Sulking. He cried in the bathroom yesterday, it was annoying.

I needed a leak.

[gotspeed]

"It seems kind of stupid that I'm the one getting yelled at when you were holding me hostage. If I wasn't supposed to get in the car then you had a lot of time to shove me out." He was just saying. It seemed insane to him. He wanted into the bank to make a deposit for Joe and then suddenly he was being held hostage by this punk. And if that wasn't bad enough, he got dragged all the way outside and apparently got into the car when he wasn't wanted.

Too late now, they were speeding down the highway and breaking several traffic rules and Barry really waned to get out but he had no idea where this was and he didn't like the idea of being abandoned in the middle of nowhere.

"You could at least drop me off near a bus stop."

[catchacold]

"I'm not near any bus stop right now, am I?" Obviously. Leonard rolled his eyes and finally slowed the car down, checking his messages with one hand and cursing under his breath. Great. Of all the days Mick actually wanted to get picked up on exactly on time, it had to be this day. He looked at the boy next to him and frowned. "I don't got time to find you a bus stop. I'll let you out around here, once we're off the highway."

[boilover]

im ok hospitalwatch teddy thks

[catchacold]

what the fuck, Mick?

why are you in the hospital, what happened?

[catchacold]

Hartley and Teddy had identical expressions when the puppy was revealed, Leonard noted. No wonder Mick called them both his boys. He rolled his eyes while Hartley pretended to be cooler than that, but that didn't keep him from coming over and gently petting the puppy, after asking permission.

Leonard was texting someone about a job, but he already knew the puppy, so it wasn't as if that was anything new.

"Does he have a name yet? He has been through so much, what a fighter." Hartley was back to smiling as he petted the little thing.

[boilover]

"Ash. His name is Ash and we all have to be very gentle petting him because he's hurt." Ash didn't seem to care about his bandages, his injuries, his wrapped up paws, none of it mattered as he squirmed excitedly in Mick's hold, licking Hartley's fingers as soon as he got close. Teddy squealed in joy and reached out to pet too, though much more clumsy.

"Bear!" Teddy told Hartley as he pointed. It was fuzzy with two uppy ears and all things like that were bears.

"It's like a zombie." Axel commented dryly from where he was sitting safely away, head tilted as he looked it over. "Where's it gonna sleep?"

"On your bed, you can sleep in the hall."

"Leonard!" Axel whined as he pouted. "Mick's trying to kick me out again!"