catchacold | Babysitter's Club

"Yes. You look..." Hartley swallowed and lowered his head, then decided to just smile. "You look cool. Cool style." Yes, he should just shut up now. Why couldn't Teddy start crying or something equally distracting? Damn it. "Do you want something to eat? I'm supposed to cook something and Teddy hasn't eaten yet either."

Also it would give him something to focus on other than Axel and the many ways he could embarrass himself.

"Thanks, you got a cool style too." He was adorable, there was no denying it. He had no idea what he was trying to say or do but it was pretty endearing. Axel laughed a little to himself and shook his head, looking down at Teddy. "If you're making something, I'll have some. Or I could cook, I'm not great but I can make pasta pretty well. It's not so hard once you--"

Axel was cut off by his phone ringing and he rolled his eyes, pulling it out. "Hey Mick. No. No, he's fine. Right, okay, all right. Bye." He hung up and gave Teddy a smile. "Oh kiddo, you got one devoted daddy."

"That's longer than I thought he'd last. Leonard must have taken his phone away." It was a dry observation, but simple enough. Mick was so worried about his son, it was cute. Hartley headed for the kitchen, but looked over at Teddy. "You are really lucky, to have a daddy who cares that much."

Clearly Axel and him both knew about having uncaring parents. Hartley had met a lot of children on the streets, he had learned about harsh realities. Parents weren't something any of them could take for granted.

"Mick is gonna do the best for this kid, he's going to get all the best things and all the attention and love. He's gonna be a spoilt little bastard." Axel lifted Teddy up and slowly, he flopped onto his back, lifting Teddy into the air so he could 'fly', something that delighted the little boy. Axel made flying noises and laughed as Teddy spread his arms out. He really was the cutest kid. He hated him at first, he was just a gross drool bag but the more he was around him, the more endeared he'd gotten.

"So how come you're out on the streets? You don't strike me as the type." He ran in a lot of different groups of kids his age or older who were homeless and none of them were like Hartley. "Where are you from? What area, I mean?"

Hartley knew better than to say exactly where he was from, he wasn't an idiot. He knew that his manners and other things gave it away and he hadn't gotten good enough at hiding it yet. Maybe one day he could learn. For now he focused on getting dinner started, figuring that pasta was an easy thing to stick with. "My parents kicked me out." Could he tell this boy that he was gay? He wasn't sure.

He didn't want to hide it, but he was the only one his age he had here and he didn't want to scare him off. "I'm from the city."

"I'm sorry, that has to be rough. What did they kick you out for?" Axel asked as he kept periodically lifting Teddy up to fly and then setting him down on his chest. Teddy flapped his arms and then almost tried to clap them together, it was cute. Axel liked it, he was adorable. "I assume it wasn't anything that bad or Mick wouldn't have let you say so I'm guessing they're just over-reacting or something?"

He seemed like a cute kid, what could he have done to upset his parents that much. He didn't seem the dangerous type. "We're all from the city, genius. Whereabouts? Like area wise?"

"I'm gay," Hartley said, deciding that Axel couldn't mind too much if he was here babysitting what was essentially Leonard's and Mick's son. He looked over at him just long enough to see his reaction, then smiled as he went back to slicing a carrot. This wasn't going badly at all, he was starting to get his hopes up.

Maybe he could just lie to avoid telling him the exact district. It was stupid to tell someone that his parents were rich, he knew that. "Not that far from here. Just on the other side of the park, nicer area."

"You are?" So he wasn't that interested in Lisa then? Made sense. Strange though, if he wasn't then why was he blushing like that and -- oh. Huh. Axel smirked and carefully sat himself up, pulling Teddy into his lap and watching Hartley curiously. Interesting. "You're not the first, you won't be the last. Half the guys I work with were tossed out for those kind of reasons. Gay, trans, whatever. You name it."

And it bugged Axel a lot but what could he do? He was the bottom of the pile, he had no power and he knew it. "Nicer area? Fancy. I've only ever been there once, it was nice. I was being fostered by a nice couple and I got a few really nice days in that place before they got bored of me. The park is lovely."

"Yes. Teddy loves the park." Which was why he was passingly familiar with the area. Honestly, he had obviously grown up in the mansion area, but it wasn't as if he'd ever walked around unsupervised there either. He knew the streets around here better than any area he'd grown up in. "And I know. I met a lot of boys and girls, especially at the shelter, before it closed." Which was a shame. If he ever had money again, he was going to reopen an LGBT* shelter. "I never spent much time at the park, I mostly studied. But I like taking Teddy."

"Yeah that was a real pain, they used to give out a lot of food and then they shut it down. Like everything else around here. The rich never invest in us and the poor can't afford to help us. We're screwed." Axel shrugged, he was kind of used to it, it was all about making his own way in life these days. And sometimes he got help. Oddly enough, he got it from Leonard. He still had no idea what to make of that, he just accepted it. "Teddy is cute, isn't he? Who knew Mick'd have such a cute baby?" He ruffled the kids hair playfully. "I guess we're going to be splitting Teddy watching duties now."

"We can watch him together, if you don't mind." Hartley blushed and wished that he didn't, so he busied himself stirring a pot and wondered why Axel had to be attractive. Attractive and out of his league. He wondered whether maybe in a few years, he'd somehow not just be an awkward nerd any more. In a few years, he'd be able to date someone as gorgeous as Axel.

Yeah, right. Like somebody as cool as that would ever give him a second look. He had no idea what gay boys were even into. He knew he was just an awkward nerd. "I'd not want to take away your job."

"I have a job, this is more... a bit on the side." Axel clarified, omitting some details so Hartley didn't get weird with him. People always did. They either freaked out that he was unclean, looked down on him, judged him or simply pitied him and frankly, he hated all of the options. He was okay, he had a few issues sometimes but he handled it. Mostly. That's why he liked Teddy, he never judged him or worried he was diseased or dangerous. "We can share, don't worry. I mostly just work for food a lot of the time."

Mick was an amazing cook, it was really impressive. Axel liked to hang out and get free food. Sometimes Leonard would buy him lunch. It was nice. "You need to stop being so nice, pretty boy. People will take advantage."

Pretty boy?

All right then. "I'm not nice out there. But I'm in here now and you're in here too. I don't want to be mean to you for no reason. Besides, Leonard wouldn't like it. I wouldn't survive that." Hartley smiled and turned his attention to Axel fully while the rice was on a soft boil. Dinner should be done soon. "There's not a lot to take advantage of with me."

He wondered now whether Axel was a rentboy. Not the first he'd met. No way to ask though.

"Leonard is a strange one, you can't really predict him or what he'd do." Something Axel wished he could, he didn't really get him. At first he was certain he was just after a freebie until he ended up here watching a baby. Then he tried to work it all out nothing made sense. He wasn't into Axel, he couldn't get anything from him so what did Leonard Snart want? Axel wished he knew, he didn't want to fuck it up.

"I wouldn't take advantage of a nice guy like you." With a smile, he lifted Teddy up and moved towards the kitchen, holding the kid protectively close. "We're going to need something for this little guy, what have we got?"

"You can check the fridge for his jars." Maybe he could look at him when his back was turned.

Or maybe he could just walk straight to hell, that'd be easier.

"Just don't ask him what he wants, because it's pudding." It's always pudding. Like father like son, as Leonard always said. "I just know that Leonard really likes you. Him and Mick keep comparing us, I think just for fun. Leonard said you're smart and a good kid and he thinks you'll surprise Mick. He didn't mention that you're, you know."

Damn. Now he had to, or this would end terrible. "Hot."

"Leonard said that? Pfft." Axel snorted in amusement as he reached into the fridge and looked far a jar that Teddy would live, ignoring the other flailing at the pudding on the bottom shelf and making a pu sound. He was so much like his dad. Axel never knew how to take Leonard's faith in him, he always felt in was oddly unfounded but strangely, he hated letting him down. He always felt like it was a trap.

He pulled back, holding a jar of mango and banana. That sounded pretty good, kind of close to pudding? He looked up when Hartley finished his sentence and for a moment, he just had to stare. Did he just call him hot? That was -- woah. Bold.

"Thanks." Axel beamed and looked Hartley up and down in appreciation. "He never mentioned you have an amazing ass either. Clearly he's leaving out the best details." He winked at Hartley and then carried Teddy back into the living room.

"I hope he doesn't notice my ass." Leonard was old, that'd be gross. But Axel noticing? Hartley couldn't help but... Well. For one thing feel a bit weird, because what did a hot ass even look like? He knew Axel looked good from any angle, but he had no general measurement. But he knew a hot ass was a good thing, so if Axel thought he had one, he wasn't going to dissuade him. "But you can feel free to notice it."

Hartley tried a flirtatious smirk. He was pretty sure he failed it.

"Trust me, I won't be able to miss it." Axel laughed playfully as he slotted Teddy into his high chair with minimal fuss and poured the jar into his special bear bowl, mixing it with the special bear spoon. Oh yeah, there was a lot of special bear stuff that Teddy had to use or he wouldn't do things. As he tied the bib around Teddy's neck, he looked over at Hartley and he couldn't help but smile. He was such a cute boy and he was into him too, he couldn't help but love it. He always did like positive attention.

"So once he's fed and asleep, what do you want to do? They'll be out a while." Axel asked as he started to giving Teddy spoonfuls of the bright reddish stuff in his mouth. "Mick has some movies but they're all awful."

"I know. Very... straight." To say the least. Hartley shrugged as he added butter to the rice and then hoped his food overall turned out all right. He was getting into spices and he had no idea whether Axel liked hot food, so he went easy on it this time. But it smelled all right at least.

"We can eat when Teddy's sleeping and, I don't know. I usually just study or read." Way to sound like a dork. "...and...whatever you'd think is cool, I do that too."

"We could watch something on TV or we could find something else. I don't study but I can watch." Axel may have been Hartley's age but he didn't attend school. He only just reached high school and he'd already dropped out, he lost a lot of interest in going, it was a long commute and he was too tired to go all of that way all the time. "Oooor we could just make out on the couch."

Axel smirked over at Hartley and laughed, unable to help himself. What? He thought it was a good option. He turned back and smiled at Teddy, feeding him another spoonful.

"I think Mick would kill me if he found out." He'd gotten thrown out of one home just for being home, he really didn't want to get thrown out of another for doing gay things when he should be focusing on babysitting. But of course he thought about it and of course he went very, very red. "We can watch TV. Are you done with school already? I graduated high school, but I want to try for college scholarships."

"He wouldn't. He blows hard but he doesn't mean half of what he says. Trust me." Axel gave Teddy another spoonful. "Ain't that right, Teddy? Your daddy isn't a scary man, is he? He'd never kick Hartley out?" Teddy happily stared chanting dada, spitting his red mush everywhere, making Axel kind of regret getting him excited over his dad. He just wanted Hartley to know he was safe here. At the question, Axel shrugged his shoulders and got another spoonful in. "Errm. Nah. I don't go. I gave up. It's cool, I'm good, I know what's what. College, huh? Aren't you like my age?"

"Yes, I... I skipped a few years." Oh damn. He was talking to a high school drop-out about how he had graduated high school already prematurely and how he wanted to get into college on a scholarship. He was going to die now. "...I'm not wearing my supernerd shirt today, but I suppose you can figure that part out from context clues." This was the worst thing ever.

"You're smart, it's pretty cool. You should own it. You're not a nerd, you're like a genius or something. That's pretty cool. Like, erm, you know. Tony Stark. He was a genius." He saw Iron Man on a date once, it was pretty nice, first time in the cinema since he was very young. It was the only example of a genius he could think of. "It's a shame, if I bothered to attend and you were dumber, we'd be in the same glasses."

"If you ever want to go back, I could help you with studying." Smooth. Very smooth. Hartley finally dared to walk out of the kitchen, sitting down on the sofa next to Teddy, but directing the kid's attention back to the incredibly handsome boy that was feeding him. "I'm better at tutoring than I'd have thought. I help out Mick a little."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject