Disclaimer: I do not own MSLN.
Before I knew it I had become a Babysitter
Admiral Chrono Harlaown was one of the youngest Admiral's in history. He was known far and wide for his courage, his leadership capabilities and his prowess in battle. Outside of work he was respected by his colleagues and loved by his friends and family for being a loyal, dotting husband and a loving father as well. So how was it somewhere along the line he had managed to get tied up from head to foot and stuck in his bathtub?
Chrono blamed Fate, and Arf, hell Zafira too. After all if they had just done their jobs Chrono would have been happily sipping tea and reading trashy romance novels.
It had all began that morning. Chrono had been blessed with one of his increasingly rare days off. There had only been one way he really wanted to spend it but, in a streak of incredible unluckiness, Amy was away for the week. So Chrono decided to spend it sleeping, reading and drinking tea.
After leaving his kids with Arf, who had practically raised them, Chrono had collapsed on the couch and started to nap the day away. Until the door bell rang.
Chrono had unwillingly lurched himself off the couch and answered the door with sleep filled eyes, ready to tell anyone who dared to bug him on his day off just what they could go do.
Luckily he looked before he cursed, "F-Fate? What're you doing here?" The young enforcer stood in his doorway, still in uniform. She wasn't alone though.
"Well you see… I need someone to look after Vivio," she looked a bit desperate as if Chrono was her last choice.
Chrono blinked. "Wait what?"
"Onii-san please," Fate grabbed the admiral's hands, "Everyone else is on a mission."
Chrono blushed, what was with the onii-san? They weren't siblings. Well no they were but they weren't blood siblings, even if they were closer then that, and the onii-san made him feel like some sort of pervert and a young one at that. He was an admiral damn it! "I-I."
"It'll only be for a few hours," Fate looked apologetic but that didn't stop her from requesting his help.
Chrono debated his options. Reject his sister and face the disappointment that would be inevitable or agree to it and ruin his day off but keep his sister happy. The choice was, of course, obvious. "Heh," he rubbed the back of his head. "Sure no problem."
She threw her arms around his neck, "I owe you."
"Yes you do," He shook his head.
Fate nudged Vivio forward and then bent down to her level, "Now be good for Uncle Chrono okay."
Vivio saluted Fate in an adorable little way. "Yes sir mama!" Fate patted her head then with a final goodbye to Chrono headed off to wherever she was headed.
Vivio looked up at Chrono. She just stood there and stared at him. Chrono started to sweat. How was it a kid made him so uneasy? Chrono chuckled nervously. "So what do you like to do Vivio?"
Vivio shrugged.
Chrono scratched his head and crouched down meeting Vivio eye to eye like he would his subordinate. "Do you like to color?"
Vivio's entire face brightened. "You have colors?" Her utter joy was evident.
Chrono grinned, kids were great at this age, "well yeah! My kids love them."
Vivio grabbed his hand in a way reminiscent of the way Fate had grabbed his hand only a few minutes ago. "Let's go!" She tried in vain to pull the twenty-five year up.
Chrono chuckled and stood allowing her to drag him around, "Do you even know where you're going?"
She stopped, looked up at him and blinked. "No."
Chrono shook his head, "they're here in the closet."
"Oh I see. Mm Mm." She nodded so fast Chrono was afraid her head would fly off.
He opened up said closet and fetched his twins' old crayons and some paper. "Here," He handed it off to the eager five year old.
She immediately settled herself down at the table and began to draw what was obviously beautiful art in her head.
Chrono sat on the couch. He watched her for a moment then pulled out his book and started to read. All was right with the world.
Until about an hour later.
"CHRONO!" Slam!
Chrono nearly fell off the couch as his front door flew open, practically kicked in by Arf. Arf skid in front of him, carrying his two dirty, giggling twins under her arms.
"I… I…" she was panting, like she had sprinted all the way to his house.
Vivio looked up from her coloring to see what the fuss was.
"Well… I and he—we and well," Arf was just rambling now.
KalKalelel, Chrono's little boy, grinned in a way that made him look exactly like his dad, "Big brother asked big sis out!"
Chrono tilted his head to the side, "Who?"
"Furry man!" Riela, his little girl, elaborated. She made a pair of floppy ears on top of her head with her hands.
"Zaffy?" Vivio asked now fully focused on the "discussion".
"Yeah yeah!" The twins high-fived each other.
Chrono choked on the air, "Zafira asked you out!"
Arf turned as red as her hair. "N-no! He just wanted to go out for a friendly lunch!"
Chrono smirked, "Sure that's exactly it. So what did you tell him?"
Arf opened her mouth to respond then stopped. "I forgot to answer."
"So you just ran off." Poor Zafira.
"Ran off. Ran off," the twins echoed.
"Ran!" Vivio didn't want to be left out.
Arf put down his kids. "Be right back." She zoomed out the door.
"So… how've you been," nice Chrono. Great way to talk to your kids.
"I had to stomp on a spider 'cause Kal got scared," Riela pointed at her brother and giggled.
Kalel puffed out his cheeks, "I was not!"
Vivio walked over to her cousin and patted his arm, "Spiders," She nodded wisely, "are scary."
"Yeah they are!" Kalel pumped his little fists in the air.
Chrono rolled up and strolled over to his kids. One hand went to Kalel's head, the other to Riela's. "Son, trust me. There's no shame in letting a girl protect you."
"Me too," Vivio popped her head underneath his chin not wanting to be left out.
"I'm back!" Arf skidded back into the room. "I said yes!"
They all looked up at her.
"When are you going out?" Chrono stood back up much to the disappointment of his midgets.
"In," Arf looked at the clock. "Ten minutes." It was just then that the realization of what she had agreed to hit her. "Oh… but I have to look after the kids." She deflated.
Chrono cursed his natural good guyness. "Don't worry they can stay here."
Arf lit up. "Thank you!" She then burst off again.
"I don't get that girl." Chrono looked down at the group of kids that had gathered around his legs. "And I don't see how you guys got so dirty."
Kalel pointed at his sister, "Rie pushed me into the dirt!"
Riela pointed at Kalel, "Kal pulled me in after him."
"Vivio's dirty too!" Vivio declared.
Chrono sighed. "I guess that means you guys need a bath."
"Yay a bath!" Kalel cheered.
"Yay!" Vivio followed his suite and cheered too.
Riela stuck out her tongue. "Yuck."
Getting one kid in a bath was hard, getting two kids in a bath was harder, getting three kids in a bathtub was next to impossible and getting three kids in a bathtub when one had never seen a western style bath required heavy prayer. Somehow Chrono managed it, somehow.
He was thankful Vivio was blessedly calm and quiet, content to play with bubbles. His two demons on the other hand… Riela and Kalel seemed positive if they didn't remove as much water from the tub as possible they would all die. They also wanted desperately for their father to have a bath too.
Chrono had already removed his favorite black sweater and rolled up the sleeves of his black button up. His hair was already dripping and the mat beneath his black socks was soaking wet.
"Oh daddy you got some fluffol on you," Riela splashed water at the pile of bubbles gathering on Chrono's head. Fluffol was her word for anything white and fluffy.
"Fluffol fluffol," Vivio repeated, also splashing water, albeit less, at her uncle.
"H-hey I'm not the one who rolled around in the mud."
"Ugu," Vivio shrunk down into the suds.
"Ugu?" Chrono repeated, raising an eyebrow.
"Ugu!" The twins exclaimed.
"You guys too?" Chrono splashed a tiny bit of water at them to wash off the excess "fluffol".
"Ugu!"
It took another thirty minutes to get the energized little sprites into fresh clothes. Vivio had to be put back into her old ones but she hadn't gone bathing in dirt so it was alright.
The now clean trio looked at him in anticipation of him doing something to amuse them. Chrono looked around for something entertaining, anything entertaining. "Um… well…"
"We'll be the bandits," Riela declared seemingly out of nowhere.
Chrono had no idea what she was talking about but Vivio and Kalel apparently did.
"And you'll be the good guy," she said it like it was better to be a bandit, to her it probably was.
Chrono sighed, "Fine fine."
She took one of his hands while Kalel and Vivio took the other, together they began to lead him back to the bathroom.
"And what are you doing with me?"
Vivio answered because apparently she and the twins had set up a mental link, "You're our hostage."
"Really? Will I be a compliant hostage?"
"You better be," Riela grinned wickedly. "Or we'll shoot you."
Chrono's mouth hung open. Shoot him? What kind of creatures were his children? And who told them those kinds of things. It was probably their Aunt Nanoha and her 'befriending'.
Once inside the bathroom, again, Kalel pulled out a jump rope from seemingly no where. "Now be still dad."
Vivio held Chrono's hands together. "'scuse me Uncle Chrono."
Chrono looked on in horror as his kids tied him up. "H-hey." He couldn't do much in the way of stopping them. After all he couldn't fight his kids.
"Into the tub daddy," Riela giggled and pushed Chrono back so he toppled in.
"Okay we're going to have a serious chat as soon as I get out of these kids. Tying up people is best left in the bedro—to trained professionals!"
But they were already gone, leaving Chrono where we first found him. Chrono was suddenly thankful there was no one around to see him particularly not a certain—
"Chrono are you in here? Your door was open and I found—" speak of the freakin' devil. Yuuno walked into the bathroom with Vivio in his arms and the twins around his feet. "Oh dear."
"Get me out of these!"
The second Yuuno freed him from his jump rope chains Chrono jumped up. His kids tensed up and tried to slink away.
"Oh you better run."
The kids ran down the stairs but Chrono hopped the railing (chipping the wood) and cut them off, so they went back up them (treading the dirt they had managed to get into).
"Cut them off Yuuno," Chrono yelled as he bumped into a small table.
Yuuno moved to the side, as did Vivio, this was a problem for a parent and his children to work out.
Chrono cursed silently so as not to spoil any delicate ears then circled back around as his kids ran between his legs.
And so the children and their beloved father ran around in circles for a good hour until neither could walk any further and they were all tired of Yuuno and Vivio's giggles.
They all collapsed in a tangled heap on the couch, Chrono too tired to be angry, the twins to worn out to be scared. Vivio snuggled in with them, not wanting to be left out of a group nap.
Yuuno chuckled, "This is probably not the right time to tell him Amy's coming home early."
"You say somethin'?"
"Not a word."
Later that afternoon
Amy came home to the sight any mother would love, her two beloved children, snuggled up with their dad and even an adorable little Vivio as an added bonus. She was filled with a happy inner peace. Until she looked around that was. Her poor poor house.
"CHRONO!!"
A/N: Chrono don't stand a chance. This is another one of those stories that's based off of a picture I happened to come upon. Chrono and his kids need more love . Special thanks to kasu1127 of the Animesuki boards for finding Chrono's kids names out for me. I owe you one.