Disclaimer: I don't own APH + its characters~ =v= fuuuu…
The series of events that lead to this peculiar moment in Doctor Ivan Braginski's life was not particularly strange per say. They were normal and expected albeit not very pleasant.
So then, how did something normal become something as bizarre as this?
The silver-haired man continued to ponder on this as he stared at his object of unease... the root of his current dilemma merely blinked and stared back at him.
The doctor was supposedly staring at a baby panda. However, just a few hours after Francis had shoved the bear into his arms with nothing but a letter and a word of thanks, the former panda was now a little boy-- with panda ears, a fluffy panda tail and a strange, furry, panda outfit that covered his petite form.
He swore that it was a real panda bear when he took it in, but when he returned after he had left it for practically a minute in the living room to fetch some water, this was what he saw.
They had actually been staring at each other for half an hour now, but despite the amount of time that had passed, Ivan still couldn't figure out what to do.
He was about to settle for pinching his cheeks to see if he would wake up from a dream, when a small voice startled him.
"Ni hao!"
The greeting was answered with furrowed brows and an even more puzzled look.
Ni hao...? The thing could speak! And in Chinese too! Well, it DID come from China afterall... but although he was relieved that it could communicate, it presented a bit of a problem since Ivan's Chinese was getting kind of rusty.
"Uhm... ni hao..." Ivan replied cautiously, "hello little panda..."
"I'm Yao aru!" it beamed at him, cheeks pink, "What's your name?"
Ah, it was indeed literate! It spoke with a strong Chinese accent but the words were clear.
"My name is Ivan. Nice to meet you Yao." He said, taking the little boy's furry gloved hand and shaking it gently.
"Ee-van...?" the boy repeated slowly before giggling. "What a weird name aru!"
That unbelievably adorable string of giggles was irresistible. If the situation wasn't so awkward, he would have thought of picking up the little thing and hugging it.
Instead Ivan found himself smiling, taking both the panda boy's small hands into his big ones and gently squeezing them.
"It's a Russian name so it is very different sounding from yours. 'Yao' is a Chinese name da?"
The panda boy nodded.
Suddenly the boy's stomach emitted a low grumbling sound. He looked down, a finger pressed to his quivering lower lip. Ivan was looking at him, already knowing what he was about to say.
"I'm hungry aru..."
Staring at the basket of bamboo shoots that came with the supposedly 'baby panda', Ivan was unsure whether the now more human kid could even eat them anymore.
He considered baby milk for a moment before he assessed that the boy was too big for baby milk in human aspects... he looked roughly like a 6 or 7 year old kid.
"What would you like to eat then, little Yao?" he said after turning his back to the basket.
"Hmm..." the panda boy pondered, his expression that of someone slowly falling into deep concentration.
Ivan waited for about two minutes before deciding that little Yao probably needed some help. He reached for the small stack of takeout menus beside the telephone table, quickly searching for those from Chinese restaurants. After picking out 3 menus, he handed them to Yao who looked up at him questioningly.
"We can order food from China, would you like that?" the doctor asked as he settled himself beside the little boy, ready to help him read the menus and choose if he needed assistance.
"Uwaah..." a small voice exclaimed upon seeing the cover of one of the menus, "a baozi aru! I want one!" He pointed at the appetizing photo of steaming baozis, his little gold eyes blinking up at Ivan's face at the same time with an imploring look.
Chuckling, the older man nodded, "I see, I see. Then we shall have some of those." He reassured the hungry boy.
As they opened the menu, the panda boy's tail wiggled at the same time his eyes darted to something that he seemed to like but he didn't speak up right away.
"Go on, you can pick out some more food if you like." Ivan ushered him, tentatively patting the boy's head. "We can order as many as you like." he said without really giving much thought. He just felt the strange urge to spoil the cute little thing.
Yao continued to browse through the menus and he was now tummy down on the carpet, feet and tail wagging as he encircled the things he found to his liking on the menu with the help of the marker that Ivan supplied him with.
"Just tell me when you are done choosing da? Uncle Ivan will just make a quick phone call."
Tearing his eyes away from the eager boy, Ivan took the cordless phone and dialled a number as he walked over to the kitchen where he was outside the kid's range of hearing.
The phone on the other end of the line continued to ring before the answering machine went on and Arthur's automated message started to play. Ivan's fingers tapped the kitchen counter impatiently as he waited for the beep at the end.
"алло Arthur. We have something to discuss." he began, "I trust you will call me back as soon as you arrive home da?" he said in his signature "people-will-die-if-you-don't-do-what-I-say" tone of voice.
Ending the call, Ivan quickly turned back to the living room where he was being summoned by the unexpected stranger he was now stuck to babysit.
This was going to be a long night...
TBC…