catchacold | Babysitter's Club

"He's not gonna end up with a freak like your dad and come on, Axel has to be blowing those stories out of proportion. Who adopts a kid to get them to deal drugs or pull jobs, that's just -- okay, not that weird." Especially since he realised as he said it that it's exactly what Leonard's dad got him to do. And, to an extent, Mick's dad. He always had to pay the bookies for that coward. He didn't want his kid to have to deal with that. He pulled a pacifier from the trolley and undid it, putting it in his mouth first to make sure there were no gross chemicals on it before slipping it into the babies mouth. What? He wanted to check. Just in case. The kid seemed pretty happy with it. "I can't have him. We both know that."

"He's your son, Mick. You gotta do what's best for him, I ain't gonna decide that for you. I can just tell you what's true, that in the system, you don't know what's gonna happen to him." Leonard shrugged his shoulders and waved at the kid before closing the door and walking over to the passenger's side, getting into the car and only continuing once they were both in, seat-belts fastened. "Look, Mick. You don't decide anything right now. We take the stuff home and then I get a crib and you can read some, learn about babies."

"I can't have a kid, Leonard. You know I can't. I'm not --fuck, I'm dangerous." Mick had already killed his parents and he almost set his uncle alight before he got kicked out. He'd set himself on fire about four times now, the last time was particularly nasty and ended with an ER trip. His pyromania wasn't just going to be cured because a baby existed. He was going to end up doing something dumb and ... it was a baby. How the hell could he deal with the idea of hurting something that small? "You talk about how it could get a shit parent through the foster system, well it's already got one. And you think social services will let me keep it? I have a record, my shrink says I'm nuts and I live in a shit hole, next door to a pimp and his drag queen lover."

"I've trusted you with Lisa, Mick. I still do. That's all I gotta say to that." Leonard had never put it in terms as plain as that, but he'd left Lisa alone with Mick, more than once. He would have never let anyone harm Lisa, still not, she meant more than anything to him and he trusted Mick with her. That was the biggest gesture of trust that he could even show to anyone. "You know that whatever you do, you ain't gonna be in it alone. You've never let me feel alone either."

"Yeah. Thanks. You know I love Lisa." Mick grunted as he started up his car. It was loud, juttery and a little scary for a baby that old, the baby whimpered and dropped his bear as the car took off and Mick huffed a little. He was going to need a new ride if he kept the kid, how was he going to afford that. "Can you get his bear?" Mick didn't want to drive home with a crying kid the whole way. He tried to focus on the road and keep it real slow. "This car is awful, I don't blame him for crying."

"Yeah, especially given he has no idea what's going on." Leonard reached behind himself and picked up the bear, bouncing it a little on the baby's stomach to distract him. "To be fair, I don't know what's going on with your car either." Gotta be honest about that. He booped the baby's nose with the bear's nose and smiled. "You have the happiest son in the world, Mick."

"It's falling apart, I got it from my dad and it sucked then, it sucks now. I can't afford to repair it either. And now I have to buy him stuff." So yeah, the scary car was just going to be a thing they all got used to. If the baby wanted to stay, it'd adapt. "You think so? I keep making him get all whiny." Though given he was very young and all they did at that age as cry, it was insanely lucky that the worst he did was some whimpers. Mostly the baby seemed in awe of everything, just seeming to want happy calmness around him.

"Sure, but he stops so quickly. Lisa would never stop crying. He already switched back to happy." It was miraculous, actually. "Anyway, you can use my car. Least that's a bit less likely to fall apart." A bit. Not much, but still. "We can do finances tonight. I might just have to find jobs with better scores." He didn't mention that Mick shouldn't be on these jobs. It was difficult to think about.

"I don't want to make any plans, I gotta sort out what I wanna do. He's a baby, I have no idea what to do with him." Mick wasn't far from the store given his current apartment was just on the edge of the city and so it didn't take long to get home. Mercifully. He pulled up outside, got out the car, waited for Leonard to do the same before he locked it and walked off...

Then he remembered the baby and hurried back with a sheepish expression. Whoops. He fiddled with the baby lock on his seat and when he finally got him free, he lifted the kid up. "Sorry, buddy. Forget about you."

Luckily he really had the world's happiest baby, so he just let out a sound that was very close to a laugh, stretching tiny hands out to his daddy. Leonard rolled his eyes and got the bags out, then followed behind Mick and the child. As if Mick was giving this boy to anyone. "We'll make some formula for him and then I can go get him a crib and maybe get us dinner while at it. How's that for a plan?"

"You're touching my face, kid. Knock it off, I can't see where I'm going." Mick rolled his eyes as the baby felt his face and gave him this wide eyed look, making a vague sort of noise. He lifted his hand and used it to cup the kids head so it rested against his shoulder as he walked, the baby instead watched Leonard from behind. It really was just the most chill baby in the world. "How do you make formula?" Mick side stepped the needle that was discarded on the staircase. Yep. He totally needed to move if he had this kid.

"There's instructions on the package. But basically you heat the milk in a waterbath and then you put in the right amount of formula, you get a measuring spoon and all. Hard to fuck up if you follow the instructions. Just gotta be sure the milk's not too hot either." Leonard shrugged his shoulders and made a face at the kid. "Just remember, Mick, much worse people have raised children."

"Doesn't exactly fill me with confidence." Mick approached his door but he couldn't react his keys with the baby in his arm and as he struggled, his keys fell on the floor. Better his keys than his kid. He gestured at Leonard and then kicked the keys over to him. "Open up for me, would you> I got my arms full." And Leonard's stuff could be put on the floor, the baby couldn't.

Leonard smirked and picked up the keys, unlocking and letting Mick and his son walk in first. "Glad you learned the lesson of not putting a baby on the floor." He picked the bags back up and closed and locked the door behind him. Formula and then all else. One thing after the other. "So. Got any more flings that might get you babies?"

"Well, not this floor. A guy threw up on it last week, he's probably pick up something dodgy." And he didn't want his-- the kid, rather, sitting in pimp germs. No way. He moved into the apartment and there was the ripped up letter Mick had trashed in anger on the floor and a few throw things around the place but mostly, it wasn't so bad. Mick set the infant down on his bed and handed him his bear, snorting in amusement. "You like bears, don't you? Look at you, all dressed like a teddy bear." Mick teased quietly, almost whispering as he stroked the kids face.

Then he stood up straight, cleared his throat and turned to Leonard. "Nah, just that one. I didn't have a condom and she swore she was on the pile. And over eighteen. All bullshit, apparently."

"You sure know how to pick them." And, no, he didn't like it, but it was hard to blame the innocent little baby for it. Instead he shot him a quick smile and then shook his head, looking at Mick. "I don't got any either. In case you're wondering." Which he probably wasn't.

"Look, I slept with her ages ago and I didn't really think about it, I was barely sober. I didn't think she'd have a kid and even if she did, I didn't think I'd get it." He sat on the edge of the bed near Teddy and playfully tugged on his foot. Oh yeah, he clearly wasn't happy as he idly playing around with his boy. "It was a mistake."

"I know that you didn't plan for this." That part was kind of obvious. Leonard looked down at father and son and wished he could just tell Mick what bothered him, but it was hard to put into words. "I just wanna make sure there ain't gonna be another." He didn't want Mick to have flings.

"Nope. Not after this. No more girls." Mick insisted and hell, he kind of meant it. Apparently he was going to end up with kids and he now had a baby preventing him from ever hooking up. And besides, he was never that into it. "She wasn't really my type. I dunno. I had other preferences, I guess."

"Ah." So what were the preferences? Leonard knew what he wanted them to be, but there were the odds that they weren't. There were also the odds that they were and then he had to deal with that. Leonard looked at the ground for a moment, slowly breathing out. "I should go get that crib before the store closes."

"Yeah, he can't sleep on the bed." Mick reached out and gently brushed the baby's fine hair back, huffing a little laugh at his wide eyed stare, he was so cute. How did that happen? "Sorry." Mick said, because he felt like he owed one to Leonard, even if they weren't a thing and had never been close to a thing, he still owed it. "I shouldn't have been sticking my dick in any old girl like that, it was a dick move. I should have just manned up and told you -- yeah, you know. Things. So. Yeah. Sorry."

"Whatever," Leonard dismissed, because what was he going to say? They didn't name their thing, they rarely acted on their thing and he was standing here and not wrapping his arms around Mick in spite of wanting to, so he had no room to talk. He had no right to feel upset over what Mick did with his dick and Mick was cutting him more slack than he ought to. "Doubt you'd get upset if I got it on with a chick, so."

"I fucked up, you're allowed to be pissed off or upset. Cause we're close and stuff." Did he have to say it? He was going to have to say it. This was getting awkward, he was tired, stressed and he kind of wanted to lie own by the baby and nap already. He wouldn't but he wanted to. "We're basically dating for fuck sake! You see that, don't you? Me. You. We're kind of a thing. Almost."

There was too much silence and then Leonard just knelt down by Mick, taking his hand. He hesitated and then rested his head on his shoulder, looking at the child. No, there was no getting rid of him. Clinging to his little bear he looked beyond adorable. Now they had a child and Leonard would have to figure things out for them all. "We're a thing," he finally said, tightening his hand around Mick's.

"Gotcha. We're a thing." Mick nodded his head and then leaned onto Leonard, reaching out to pull him close and hold him. The baby made a noise and wriggled happily, almost rolling towards them. Clearly he approved. Mick snorted in amusement and shook his head, holding Leonard a little tighter for a moment then relenting, so he could escape. "And now we have a kid... apparently."

Babysitter's Club

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