coolperson: Haha, I totally agree with the Hilary thing! And yeah, I was just thinking, "What kind of movie would Kai like to watch? Hmm… something bloody… gory maybe… How about Spartans?"
suzanne: Teehee, I love Ray and Kai, too! They're such obedient little boys. :3
Phoenixfyre101: Lol, the first time I looked at your name, I was like "Phoenix Frye? I love Channing Frye from the Phoenix Suns, too!" Sorry, basketball reference and stupidity at it's best. :s
Blackstarz: LOL thanks! I just thought of Toy Story 'cause Toy Story 3 just came out! :3 Weee! And as the cleaning service… well, maybe not Garland. :x It's safer for the clothes that way.
white-tsubasa: I can imagine Kai watching 300 like "(stare) (angry face) Why would they do that? That's not right! A much better move would have been to blah blah blah!" Sorry, my creative juices aren't, uh, juicing. lol
Alla Bethony: No, no, I think precious should be right, lol. Well, it certainly describes Kenny and Max, anyway. :3
BlackRoseGirl666: Awww, thank you! You're a killer reviewer! :)
Misadventures in Babysitting
Rawr It's Kizami
The First Job: New Year's Eve
Part Four
"Coulda been smothered with his own hat," Kai suggested, picking up the last cookie in the pile and taking a nibble out of it with an ever-so-slightly pouty look on his face. "I wish we could have ice cream."
"Me too," Ray breathed, a glum expression casted over his face. "I really hope he didn't bleed all over my carpet, too."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Hiro bit his tongue trying to refrain from shouting as he attempted to put things into their rightful places as per Tyson's instructions.
"….an' the crayons go on the desk, an' the white horse goes in the third… no, sixth… no… well, I dunno which cubby it goes into but it's not THAT one!"
"Are you just being a pest and making this up?" Hiro snapped.
Deeply offended, Tyson stopped his bouncing and jumped off the bed. "I am NOT a pest! I'm a GOOD boy! I'm HELPING!" he declared passionately.
"You are a PAIN," Hiro corrected in the tone of someone who had just run out of patience. "Just sit there QUIETLY."
"Fine!" Tyson shouted, pouting. "If you're so smart, put it all back yourself!"
"QUIETLY!" Hiro repeated.
As he continued to put everything into their cubby holes, Tyson made a face at his brother's back and soundlessly stalked out of the room. He paused for a second and, over his shoulder, blew a quiet raspberry.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Hey, wook!" Kenny exclaimed. "Way has a mewmaid daww!" He held up the painted white mermaid in a pruned hand.
"Yay!" Max cried cheerfully. "I with my mommy would let me play with mermaid dollth like Ray'th daddy doeth."
Kenny's pruned hand happily swished the doll underneath the water with a long 'wooooosh'. "You be the Daddy mewmaid and I'ww be the Mommy mewmaid!"
"Thure!"
The two boys continued to play, despite that they were both rapidly on their way to becoming water-raisins in quickly cooling bathwater.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Maybe Mister Garland DID bury him under the rose bushes," Ray chirped, sad that the pile of cookies had disappeared. "It's too quiet."
"I'm bored," Kai uttered, shifting in his seat. "It's been a long, long, long time."
"KAI!" a painfully familiar voice cried from the doorway, causing Kai to cringe. "I missed you! Didya miss me?"
"No, go away," Kai told Tyson, disappointed to see that he was alive. It had been entertaining to try and figure out how he was killed and where the body was hidden.
"Well I missed you lots!" Tyson stated, running up to Kai and wrapping his arms around him.
"ACK! DON'T TOUCH ME!" Kai tried to push the boy away, only to find, to his dismay, that Tyson had more arms than an octopus. He figured that his only option would be to hit him hard then run, but Garland had told them to stay where they were. What was a poor boy to do?
To make matters worse, Tyson cried, "Love ya, Kai!" And planted a big, slobbery kiss on his cheek.
Kai burst into tears.
"Look what you did!" Ray shouted. "You're bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, Tyson Granger!"
"I am not!" Tyson protested, clumsily patting Kai in the back despite the other boy's attempts to swat his hand away.
"Are too!" Ray countered.
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"CHILDREN!" boomed Garland's voice from the doorway. The rousing roar of his voice shocked all three children. They had never heard their babysitters so angry! "Would you PLEASE stop?"
Kai pointed a shaky finger at Tyson and tried to explain what had happened, but he was sobbing so violently that nobody could understand what he was saying. Tyson continued to awkwardly pat Kai on the back, despite his efforts to push him away, which caused muffled cries of frustration amongst the blubbering.
It was bad enough for Kai to be kissed by someone. It was worse knowing that that person was Tyson Granger. It was the worst to be SEEN crying. The absolute epitome of degradation, however, was to have Tyson Granger TOUCHING him as he cried. There was only one thing that could make this whole situation worse.
"KAI!" shouted Hilary from behind Garland's legs with her hair still entangled in an awkward frame around her wide-eyed face. "Why are you crying like that? I'll make it all better!" With that, she sprinted past Garland up to Kai, planted a wet kiss on the boy's other cheek, and blew Tyson a raspberry.
"I WANT MY GRAMPA!" Kai wailed at the top of his lungs.
At Garland's initial shout, Ray had begun to tear up as well, and for the moment, all Garland could do was stand in the doorway in open-mouthed horror as he helplessly watched two of the best children bawling, two of the worst tugging Kai helplessly by each arm, and the remaining two…
"Oh no!" Garland yelped suddenly. "They're still in the TUB!"
Hurrying forward, he grabbed Tyson by the arm despite his squirming and picked him up. He then reached over and grasped Hilary, who screeched "I'M A LADY!" and bit him on the wrist in return. With the two troublemakers in tow, Garland charged out of the kitchen.
"MAX, KENNY! GET OUT OF THE TUB!" he called through the closed bathroom door.
"Aw, Mither Garland," Max whined.
"We'we not done scwubbing each othew's backs!"
"OUT OF THE TUB!" he repeated as he toted the kicking and screaming Tyson and Hilary up the steps. "BROOKLYN!"
Before the other babysitter could reply, Garland towed the two shrieking children into the newly cleaned bedroom and set them onto the bed. Brooklyn had successfully laid new white sheets on the queen-sized bed, and the carpet had dried. (Although, Brooklyn SWORE he could still see faint orange and red splotches.)
"Now then," Garland strained tiredly. "You are going to listen to us."
"Ladies don't get yelled at!" Hilary stated haughtily. Sitting next to her, Tyson hung his head guiltily. He didn't know what he had done wrong, but the babysitters were upset and yelling at him. It was almost enough to make HIM cry too!
"Please don't be mad at me," he pleaded in a wavering voice. "I wasn't being bad. Honest!"
"I know you don't mean to be bad, Tyson," Brooklyn sighed.
"You just can't help it," Garland muttered next to him.
"It's bedtime now," Brooklyn continued. "Hilary, I want you to sleep on the left side of the bed, and, Tyson, I want you to sleep on the right side."
The two children quieted temporarily as they stared, horrified, at Brooklyn.
"You mean we gotta go to bed NOW?" Tyson asked, mortified.
"I can't share a bed with a BOY!" Hilary protested, even more mortified. "Ladies DON'T do that!"
"Yes," Garland said in exasperation. "You have to go to bed right now. NO, you don't have to share a bed with a boy," he turned to Tyson, "Or a girl. There's an invisible wall that makes it two beds. And if you touch the wall, it disappears. So, just stay on your side of the wall and you won't be sharing a bed. Got it?"
Hilary immediately turned to Tyson and glared. "If you break the invisible wall, I'll smack you," she warned.
"I wouldn't touch that wall if you paid me!" Tyson shouted. "I don't want your nasty cooties."
"Fine, whatever," Brooklyn said, feeling his headache beginning to return. "But no talking. And no smacking. And before you think of doing anything else, don't do that either. Just lay there and sleep." Giving Garland a curt nod, the two of them lifted Hilary and Tyson to their respective sides of the bed. "Don't move and don't talk. Just sleep. Understand?"
"Yes, Mister Brooklyn," two thoroughly unhappy children chorused.
"I'm still gonna tell my daddy on all of you," Hilary added angrily.
"No talking until he gets here," Garland chimed, waving a finger admonishingly. Hilary opened her mouth to stay something, but Garland gave her a firm look. The two babysitters left the room and closed the door behind them, missing Hilary and Tyson stick their tongues out at each other.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Finally finished with putting the toys back, with no help from Tyson whatsoever, Hiro stood up and stretched his aching legs. He'd heard some commotion coming from all wings of the house, but figuring that Garland and Brooklyn could do the job just fine, he left it alone. Standing back and surveying his handiwork, Hiro nodded his approval and turned to Tyson with a stern look.
Only, Tyson wasn't there.
"…" Hiro stared at the empty bed. He could have sworn that he had left Tyson there, but thinking back, he DID think it strange for the young boy to be so quiet. "…oops," was all he could say as he left the room.
"I don't undewstand why Mistew Gawwand got so cwanky at us," he heard Kenny's voice say as he neared the guest bedroom.
"He'th very odd, Mither Garland," Max agreed.
Hiro knocked gently on the door. "How are you two doing in there?" he asked as he opened the door.
"Fine, Mistew Hiwo!" Kenny answered cheerily, pulling his teddy-bear clad pajama top over his still wet torso.
"Good," Hiro replied. It was such a relief for him to know that not all children were like Tyson and Hilary. "You guys keep being good. I have to go stand watch while Kai takes a bath now."
"Don't wook, Mistew Hiwo!" Kenny warned. "If you wook at Kai when he's taking a bath, he'ww be vewy upset!"
Max nodded his agreement and climbed into the bed with his smiling turtle pajamas. "Yeth, that would be terrible!"
As the thought of this challenge crept its way into Hiro's head, the two little boys snuggled under the covers. As soon as the two little water-raisins were tucked into bed, he left the guest room for the kitchen as the hushed sounds of two little boys playing under the covers with smuggled mermaid dolls faded behind him.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Time for your bath, Kai," Hiro announced, entering the kitchen as Kai wiped away the last trace of tears from his face.
"Mister Garland told us to stay right here," Kai croaked in a hoarse voice.
"It's okay, Kai," Hiro assured him. "And Brooklyn will be here shortly for your bath, Ray. Okay?"
"Okay," Kai conceded as he jumped off the chair and rubbed the back of his legs where the chair had left a fading impression.
Hiro led Kai into the master bedroom with the intention of letting the boy use the bathroom there. Kai immediately stopped in his tracks as soon as he saw the room's two current occupants.
"I can't take a bath in there!" he hissed. "They'll look at me!"
"They won't look at you," Hiro reassured confidently.
"Yes they will!"
"Look, they're sleeping."
"They're only pretending to sleep!" he protested, pointing a small, accusatory finger in the direction of the bed, which housed his two tormentors.
"I am not!" Hilary yelped.
"Shut up!" Tyson snarled. "Mister Garland will get mad if he hears us talking!"
"See?" Kai pouted. "I'm not taking my clothes off if they're gonna be in here."
Hiro rolled his eyes. "Just go in the bathroom and take your bath. I'll stand out here and make sure they don't look, okay?"
"You promise?"
"I promise."
"You swear?"
"On my honor."
"You sure?"
"…Stop stalling and get in there."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"…And the white mermaid, and the white ducky, and the shark, except he's not white, but that's okay!" Ray told Brooklyn happily. "He'll be under the bubbles and I won't have to look at him!"
"That's right," Brooklyn told him evenly. "You won't have to see him at all!" Once he and Garland had successfully gotten Tyson and Hilary tucked in for the night, the two of them separated; Garland had gone to check on the sheets in the wash, and Brooklyn made his way to the kitchen for Ray's bath. When he had arrived, the boy was cheerfully swinging his legs over the side of the chair waiting for bath time.
As soon as Brooklyn entered the doorway, the boy promptly ran to the bathroom, stripping his clothes on the way. The Kon boy had no concept of modesty.
Once Brooklyn brought himself to the bathroom, he lifted Ray and placed the boy into the freshly run bathwater. "I'm going to wash your hair now, okay?"
"Okay!" Ray said, playing with the white mermaid doll under the water as Brooklyn shampooed the long, dark mane.
Listening to the sounds of a happy boy at play, Brooklyn thanked his lucky stars that there was only one Hilary and one Tyson, and that he had not been the one to bathe either one.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Taking a deep breath, Garland tentatively peered inside the washer at the white sheets. Nothing, nada, zip. The spaghetti stains were out, but there was still the faintest of red marks.
What was he going to do now? He had, rather unfortunately, pre-soaked the sheets before Coach Boris had told Brooklyn to pre-treat them. He had poured the half-cup of bleach as per his instructions, but for a reason he could not even begin to fathom, the sheets just flat out refused to whiten.
What was a fourteen year old boy to do in this type of situation? He had never in his life had to clean make up off of anything, let alone pure white bedsheets.
Garland picked up the bottle of bleach and wondered to himself. If half a cup of bleach didn't do the job, how about if he added a full cup this time? If at first you don't succeed, try try again, he thought.
Looking around, he realized that the measuring cup was missing and thought that maybe it had rolled away after the first helping of bleach. Shrugging it off nonchalantly, Garland estimated the amount as he poured.
"That looks like one cup to me," he said, replacing the cap on the bottle.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Hiro waited patiently by the door as the grey-haired little boy took his bath on the other side. He was glad that the master bedroom was constructed the way it was, with the bathroom and changing area separated from the rest of the bedroom by a wall. If Hilary and Tyson stayed on their side, then nobody would be the wiser.
The blue-haired babysitter faced an internal dilemma; to look or not to look. He understood that Kai really didn't want anybody to look at him, but it was just such an irresistible challenge and, after all, he was Tyson the typhoon's brother. The same blood ran which ran through Tyson's veins ran through Hiro's and, as his parents can attest to, when Hiro was Tyson's age, he had the same troublemaking streak, if not worse.
Besides, he had promised Kai that he wouldn't let anyone peek. He hadn't necessarily promised to not peek himself.
He waited until the sound of water running could be heard and quietly opened the door a crack behind him. Kai was just peeling off his pants and laying it on top of his carefully folded scarf. He was completely unaware of his audience. Hiro watched until the naked boy climbed into the bath before soundlessly closed the door and returning to duty.
Hiro smiled slyly to himself. Mission accomplished.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Brooklyn turned off and set down the hairdryer. He ran a comb through Ray's hair and smiled when the little boy flung his arms around his neck. "Thank you, Mister Brooklyn," he said appreciatively. "I app.. app… I'm glad you did that."
"You're welcome, Ray," Brooklyn replied, smiling. "Let's get you into your pajamas. What would you like to wear? We have white… and white!"
"Silly, Mister Brooklyn!" Ray said giggling. "White! Can we watch a movie now? Kai said '300' is a good one!"
"We are not watching that one," Brooklyn told him as he pulled the white pajama top over Ray's slightly damp skin, shuddering slightly at the thought. "How about 'Aladdin'?"
"I like Aladdin," Ray said, his speech slightly muffled as his head popped through the collar and Brooklyn helped put on his white underwear and pajama bottoms. "I especially like the tiger."
"I'll tell you what," Brooklyn said as he and Ray exited the bathroom. "I'll tuck you in first, and then I'll go check if Kai is done. And then the both of you can watch 'Aladdin' in your room. How does that sound?"
"Sounds good!" the little boy agreed with a laugh.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
After several moments of what sounded like obligatory splashing, Hiro heard the water drain from the tub. The door opened, revealing a damp but clean little boy dressed in dark blue footsie pajamas with a flap in the back.
"Cute," Hiro commented, which earned him a glare.
"Done," Kai told him, not particularly amused at being called 'cute.' "Don't touch the flap."
"I won't, I promise."
"Good." With that said, Kai started to walk past Hiro.
"But you're not done," Hiro told him. The boy turned around and he indicated at his hair. "You still haven't combed your hair."
"Yes I did," Kai protested.
"No, you didn't."
"Did too."
"Did not."
"Did too."
"Did not."
"Did too."
"Look, I can clearly tell that you didn't comb your hair yet," Hiro pointed out as he reached into the bathroom and picked up the comb from the counter. "Come here and stand still," he said as he steered Kai over by the arm, trying to resist the tempting back flap. Kai scowled as the comb was dragged through his messy grey-hair and forced it down into a nice, neat style.
And it sprang messily back into place.
"Did too."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Head set firmly on Brooklyn's shoulder, thumb plopped securely into his mouth, eyes drooping ever-so-slightly. Yes, Ray Kon was a content little boy. He was fighting sleep with every ounce of power he could muster. Brooklyn was going to let him and Kai watch a movie, and he did not want to miss that.
Everything was nice and, finally, calm.
Until Brooklyn switched on the light in Ray's room.
"WAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ray cried, outraged. His room was entirely white, and all his toys were put away, tucked nice and neatly in his shelf. Everything in his room was arranged carefully.
In the wrong order. In an order in which Ray certainly did not approve.
"You let TYSON in here!" he yelled, eyes beginning to blur with tears. "My room is a mess! A MESS! And I bet you let him have my BLUE CRAYON!"
"Ray…" Brooklyn cooed, setting the wailing boy on his white bedding and patting his back soothingly. "Everything's put away neatly, see? It's all in order."
"NO IT'S NOT!" Ray bawled. He wiped his eyes and pointed to his shelf accordingly, sobbing, "My ducky goes in the third cubby, and my tiger goes in the first, and…"
Exasperatedly, Brooklyn set himself in front of the bookshelf and rearranged everything according to Ray's hysteric instructions. He really wished that Hiro had chosen another part time job for them. Unfortunately for Brooklyn, not too many companies were willing to hire a teenager as president.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Garland gave a happy sigh of relief as he stood back to take in his handiwork at once. He had finally managed to clean the white, granite countertops of any spaghetti, or otherwise, stains. He never really had a good chance to take a look at the kitchen with all the commotion from earlier, but upon closer inspection, it actually was a nice place for cooking and otherwise. If Garland had known how to cook anything other than eggs and bacon, he would have enjoyed the kitchen much more.
This thought about food made him realize that him realize how thirsty he was, and how absolutely lost his appetite was after dealing with Tyson and Hilary. Rummaging through the refrigerator, he pulled out the apple juice and poured himself a cup.
"WAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"NOOO!" Garland cried as he watched his apple juice spill over the sides of the counter to the floor. He frowned deeply. "I spilled." How embarrassing would it have been if Hiro and Brooklyn had caught him like this?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"It's all your fault we don't get to see the movie," Hilary hissed in a hushed voice at Tyson.
"No, it's yours!" Tyson hissed back.
"No, it's your fault!"
"No, it's yours!"
"Yours!"
"Yours!"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Did you brush your teeth?" Hiro asked.
"Yes. I said I was done." Kai gave Hiro a defiant look and crossed his arms.
"Look, it was a reasonable question."
"Are you going to try brushing my teeth for me too?" Kai asked sarcastically. His head still ached from Hiro's poor attempts at combing his hair.
After the failure of the first attempt at combing Kai's hair, Hiro had tried a second time to force the thick mass of hair flat. The comb had somehow gotten firmly tangled in Kai's still wet bangs, and when it was finally pulled free, it managed to take a good amount of grey hair with it. Thankfully for Hiro, this child wasn't a screamer when it came to tangles.
"Do I need to?"
"No," Kai answered with a scowl so deep that it turned into a full-on pout. "I want to keep my teeth in my head."
Hiro remained silent. He didn't know how to reply to something like that; after all, the kid had a legitimate gripe. "Look," he finally said after a while. "Let's get you settled in Ray's room. Brooklyn said you guys could watch a movie."
"'300?'" Kai asked wistfully.
"Uh, I don't know," Hiro replied, a little concerned at the thought of a child Kai's age watching such a gory movie. He grabbed a hold of Kai's hand and led him to Ray's room.
Kai, excited about the prospect of watching his movie, forgot to protest about being touched.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"And the white firetruck goes in that cubby," Ray told Brooklyn, pointing to a specific hole next to the one Brooklyn had taken the firetruck from. "But it goes all the way in the corner! Not that corner, the other corner! And then the airplane goes next to that…"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Thththththththth…" snored a sleeping Max.
"Pbbbbbbbbwwwwwwt…." snored Kenny next to him.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Yours!"
"YOURS!"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"I hate spills…" Garland muttered under his breath.
He should have never let Hiro con him into taking care of six little kids for a whole night.
(To be continued.)
And that's the end of part 4! I hope you guys liked that one, too! Let me know what you think! :) Constructive criticism is always welcome!