{sorry for the wait, im working on the next fic and my muse died, hoping to work on old oneshots to revive it but heres one new thing}
In the middle of a public space was the last place Malhare needed to have a panic attack.
He found himself in an isolated corner in the mall and tried to steady his breathing, his form was flickering wildly, he couldn't go out and find Marie and Damien like this! People would notice a man who's glitching out like he's in the matrix. He tried to count and calm himself when he heard someone approaching.
Shit, he couldn't steady himself in time.
So he did the only other thing he could. He retreated into his plushy form. It was small and unassuming, hopefully he'd be overlooked.
What he didn't account for was that two young men and what looked like a bubbly little girl walked over, the girl glanced over and her bright green eyes locked onto malhare immediately.
Shit.
"Papa, daddy look!" She cried and ran over to the bunny plush, holding him up like a treasure. One of the men, an older looking gentlemen with a 9- oclock shadow and tan skin, kneeled to look at the toy. "What's this little guy doing out here?"
"Maybe someone lost him?" The other father shrugged, he had a bulky build but a soft face. The girl looked up hopefully.
"Can I keep him?"
'Absolutely not!' Malhare internally argues, but he can't be heard else risk himself
"I don't know... someone might have lost him." The first man says. The second one pulls out a slip of paper.
"How about this. I'll put a note here so whoever is looking for them knows to give us a call when they come looking for their bunny" the girls eyes light up.
"So we can keep him!"
"Only if nobody calls to claim him"
"Yay!" The girl cheered
'Fuck' malhare thought to himself. He was helpless to stop them as the girl and her dads walked out of the Mall, the little girl humming and skipping the whole way while holding her 'new bunny' malhare meanwhile was internally freaking out the entire drive to their home.
Okay he had to admit it.
The kid was adorable.
Once home she went off to introduce her new Bunny (whom she'd taken to calling velvet because Mal was a very soft toy.) to her other doll.
"Velvet! Meet catty, Donnie, Rover, and miss periwinkle!" The girl, whom Mal had figured out was named Lucy, made him wave to the toys and each toy wave back. He had to respect she was being careful, Mal counted himself lucky if he could get out of this without a fresh rip or tear. This playtime continued until the little girl had to go to bed. She set Mal on the nightstand and mumbled, "goodnight Velvet." And soon dozed off.
Malhare didn't dare move until he was sure the house was silent. Then he carefully buzzed himself to his rabbit form and snuck into the kitchen, he was sure he saw a home phone around here somewhere. He spotted the landline on a corner. Bingo. He reached over and dialed Marie's home phone number, if she didn't pick up one of the Twisted might. He had the phone up to his ear when he heard a small gasp and a familiar girl's voice ask.
"Velvet?" Malhare tensed, his whiskers buzzing as he slowly looked back.
Lucy was standing at the doorway in her nightgown, she blinked up with wide eyes.
Shit.
Mal slowly waved. "...uh Hiya. Please don't scream"
"You're alive!?" She half whispered as she ran up to him.
"Uh, Yeah, and uh, I really gotta call a friend-"
"That's so cool! Are you magic? Are your friends magic too? Are all toys living like you?" She asked a billion questions and latched onto his leg. Mal just stood there in mild panic at this child clinging to him and buzzing with excitement.
"Uh, I'll answer your questions in a second kiddo, but I really gotta call home, my sister is really worried-"
"You have a sister?" She gasped "Is she a bunny too?"
"She's more of a mouse really" Mal mumbled as the girl squeed. "But really, I gotta call her. So if you could..." he put a finger to his mouth and made a shushing noise. The girl nodded and in turn made a motion of zipping up her lips. Mal gave a thumbs up and called. After a few rings a clearly groggy woman spoke.
"Hello? Marie speaking"
"Hey Marie, uh, we got a situation-"
"Mal! You're okay? Oh thank god!" The woman was more awake and sounded relieved.
"Yeah uh, a kiddo and her dads found me after I ran off, I panicked and did the plushy thing. So I'm at their place, you got a pen? Their address is uhhhh..." Mal looked at the kid and whispered. "What's your address?" Lucy happily relayed the information she was told to remember and Mal echoed it into the phone.
"Okay got it. Should I head there now?"
"Uh... nah you can wait till morning. I think I'll be alright overnight... But uh call Damien for me Would yah? I don't want him to worry"
"On it. I'll pick you up tomorrow first thing." And with that Marie and Mal hung up. Lucy looked up at the rabbit as he put the phone back. She quietly asked. "Tell me about your magic woooorld." She grinned with excitement. Malhare soon realized she likely wasn't going back to sleep anytime soon so he relented. "Alright. But you gotta get into bed first, I don't want your dads finding out you're up and awake this late."
Lucy nodded and grabbed malhare by the arm while walking back to her room. Once she was tucked back into bed she sat up and started asking a billion questions. About him, about his friends, and mostly about how he was real. Mal did his best to answer them... with a bit of embellishment. A child didn't need to know he was actually a digital ghost, and a magical bunny from another world was close enough right? He talked about his sister and his boyfriend, she seemed excited at the mention of Damien because 'you're like my dads!' Malhare chuckled. Soon enough she was exhausted and started to curl up to sleep, that's when malhare asked one more thing. "Hey Lucy? I gotta ask you a big favor. Keep this a secret okay?"
"Why?" She asked. Mal thought a moment then said.
"I got enemies, see some people don't like me" She made a small gasp. "I know right? What's not to love about silly ol me?" He had a goofy grin then went serious. "But some people don't, if they found out what I really was they'd get rid of me. So I need you to promise to keep this a secret okay?" Lucy nodded then held out a hand to him. "Pinky promise!" She says extending her pinky finger. Mal chuckled and returned the gesture. "Pinky promise, now get some sleep kiddo." Lucy nodded and curled up, it wasn't long before she was asleep again. Malhare sighed. He leaned back briefly before returning to the nightstand and buzzing to his plushy self. Things would get sorted in the morning.
He hoped
"Hey Baxter, we got a message. A young woman found our note and is coming to pick up her bunny this morning" the father says, his partner, who was sitting at the table to eat with Lucy nodded. "That's good, I'm glad we can get ol Velvet home, right Lucy?"
The little girl nodded eagerly, she had taken to carrying malhare around with her all morning, asking him questions about anything she could think of. He'd answer them if he was sure none of the fathers were listening in. Soon enough the doorbell rang, the soft faced man, named Baxter. Stood up. "I'll get it," he said and opened the door.
And there stood Marie. She waved. "Hi, are you mister uh, bluejay?"
"Yes ma'am, I'm assuming you're here for your bunny?" Marie nodded, and Baxter looked back and called for Lucy, the little girl ran up, holding malhare. She looked up at the albino woman at the door. Marie smiles. "Hi there! I see you found my bunny, thank you so much for taking care of him" she smiled. Lucy smiles back with her own toothy grin. "You're welcome!" And she handed over the plush. Marie stood up and chuckled, "I'm not even sure how I lost him, must have fallen out of my bag." She says, engaging in some smalltalk with Baxter, Malhare couldn't help but notice Lucy seemed a little sad to see him go...
He was probably going to regret this but with a nearly invisible buzz he sent a text to Marie, she briefly looked at her phone to read it. Malhare simply sent a text reading
'Ask if they need a babysitter. The kid knows, but she's cool' Marie easily brought the topic onto a babysitter.
"Yeah, our last one bailed since she went off to college, we've been trying to find a new one local but we're having trouble."
"Well my brother is pretty flexible." Marie answered smoothly, Lucy looked up with a silent gasp. Marie pulled out a sticky note and wrote down his phone number. "You can call whenever, he's really nice and good with kids, if you need any reference you can ask me or his partner." Baxter looked at the name and number and nodded.
"Thank you, I'll give Mal a call soon then." And with brief goodbyes they departed.
Once in the car Mal reformed, in his human look since he was calm.
"Sorry about scaring you like that"
"Don't apologize to me, apologize to Damien, he was worried sick." Marie sighed. Mal looked down embarrassed.
"So... what's so special about the kid that you offered to babysit?"
"Other than the fact she spotted me?"
"Wait, she did?"
"Yeah and apparently was more curious than scared. She nearly talked my ears off." Marie chuckles.
"Well it's about time you got a job"
"Hey! I have a job!"
"You make bots for discord, you don't get paid for that"
"Don't judge me! :T" Mal huffed as Marie laughs.
It was a nice ride home.
