catchacold | Babysitter's Club

"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."

"I don't think I'd go back, seems pointless. I'd rather be working, I need the money if I want to stay alone and out of the system, you know? If I go back to school, I probably go back there and ... yeah, it's a mess." Axel dismissed as he fed Teddy a few more bites of his jar. He was easily distracted by Hartley but fortunately, he seemed to be pretty hungry. Food time was going well. "It's fine, I'll just find a handsome, smart boy like you and he can take care of me. Get a nice job and buy me pretty things."

"I get it. I just think you'd do a good job." Because he was handsome and smiled like that and right now Hartley would have believed just about anything he said. "But that's good too." Working as a rentboy, as he suspected? No, it wasn't good. Hartley knew a lot about the reality of that by now. "Leonard wants you to do well, so I'm sure you will."

"I dunno. I'll do whatever I want to do, depends what's easier. I'm a slacker, I guess." He knew Leonard wanted him to go back to school and quit his job but that wasn't happening so easily as he'd hoped. At least Axel had kicked the drugs, even if he hated that and kept slipping. It was hard, they got him through a lot. "I have to try more these days, I guess, this little guy is looking to us as examples."

The little guy in question had finished all of his food and was happily humming away, making grabby gestures at Hartley.

"Maybe it will get easier. Maybe you could stay here sometimes. It's warm." Maybe he was taking away Axel's place to live? He had to talk to Mick about that. "And true. I wouldn't want to disappoint Teddy." Teddy perked up even more at his name, squealing a little and making sounds that Hartley could identify. Oh.

"...he wants me to play my flute. Is that okay with you?" He was already taking his flute out of the kangaroo pocket, exciting Teddy further.

"You play the flute?" Not where he saw this night going but hell, this night was kind of weird. He used Teddy's bib to wipe his face before lifting him up and into his lap again. "Nah, by all means, me and Teddy are your audience and I gotta say, I think he's your biggest fan." Teddy was pointing at the flute and looking at Axel, just making sure he saw the magical amazing flute too.

"I know, buddy, it's really cool!" It wasn't but Axel was getting oddly invested in this.

"Yes, I don't know. I like music. Especially the flute." Hartley shrugged, lifting the instrument to his lips already. A moment later he started playing, closing his eyes slowly and just focusing on Teddy's sounds. He was playing for him most of all after all and he knew by now which of his songs Teddy liked best, bouncing and trying to sing along. It was adorable. It also helped him to pretend that there wasn't the cutest boy sitting there and listening.

Teddy sometimes copied the pitch oddly enough or he'd make a noise along with it. Sometimes he just bounced and tried to stand to get closer, only to tumble back against Axel. The whole time, Axel kept one arm hooked around the baby as he watched Hartley play, entirely fascinated. It sounded wonderful. He almost wanted to close his eyes and sink into it. "Dude, you're so talented."

"Thank you. I practise a lot. It used to be what I did in my free time, you know, when I had a break in my schedule?" Hartley didn't know how common that kind of thing was. He lowered his flute and held his hand out to Teddy, who grabbed it and babbled excitedly. "Before it got too cold I used to get some money busking. Do you really like it?"

"Sounds like fun." That was his time off? Learning an instrument? Not cool. Still, he let it go and simply held the boy close to stop him from babbling. "I bet you made plenty, you play amazingly, I had no idea the flute could sound so pretty." He turned Teddy around a little and beamed at him. "What do you think?" Teddy squealed and clapped his hands, turning back to Hartley and trying to flail at him. "I think he wants to thank the player."

"I'm glad you like it." Hartley smiled and pretended that he wasn't blushing while he wrapped an arm around Teddy, holding his flute away with his other hand. "I want to try for a musical scholarship, maybe. At a music school. My parents wouldn't ever have let me study that, so that makes me want it more." He had more than a bit of a rebellious spirit. "So I'll play music and be as gay as I can be. Right, Teddy?"

"Oh yeah, you have to. When someone is that much of a jerk, you have to stick it to them and do what you want. Be happy, be gay, play music. Whatever. Just do it. You have a lot of talent and you're insanely handsome. You'll pull it all off fine." Axel smiled and sprawled back, looking at Hartley appreciative. He could do so much, he was so talented, it was so weird to meet a kid like this. It was so different to what he usually knew.

Babysitter's Club

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