Disclaimer: Di kami ang nag-aari ng Get Backers. Sana naman, pero...sayang. Translation: We don't own the Get Backers. We wish but...too bad for us. :)
"Banchan, Jinji."
Both men groaned and stirred. It being mid-second week of foster fatherhood, they'd become resigned to the periodical wake-up calls in the middle of the night. Both wondered how Chibi woke up, and what he did. Sometimes, Ban still feared for the interior of the Ladybug…
Blue eyes and brown settled on the solemn baby, and the baby bottle containing only water in his hand.
"Drink," Chibi said, shoving the bottle into their faces.
Ban groaned and faced the window, "You do it, Ginji."
Ginji bent down, rummaging through the paper bag at his feet. "Ban-chan?"
"Aa?"
"There's no more milk."
"What?!" Ban asked grumpily. Then he remembered. "I thought I told you to give him milk only three times a day?!"
"Drink!" came the annoyed voice of Chibi, nudging the bottle on Ban's shoulder.
"Eh…" Ginji sweatdropped.
Ban sighed. "Sorry, twerp, there's no more milk…"
The round face fell, and the eyes went round and mournful. "Driiink?" Chibi asked plaintively.
Ginji shook his head, his own eyes as round and as mournful, as if this could help him communicate with the kid. "Sorry, Chibi, no more…"
Chibi's lower lip trembled, and Ban and Ginji winced…but he only put the bottle down and lay down in the backseat. His eyes were staring pitifully, like a sad puppy's, and his face was the picture of sorrow.
"Poor Chibi," Ginji said sadly. He and the kid could relate. Very well. So could Ban, actually.
"We'll get milk from Paul when we go to the Honky Tonk," Ban said, resigned. Chibi seemed to perk up at this.
"Where's Hevn-san when we need her?" Ginji lamented.
It took a moment for it to register that Ginji was serious…then Ban's fist came in direct contact with Ginji's skull.
"AHOU!"
Chibi stared, hunger forgotten.
Ginji rubbed the sore spot and whined, 'But Ban-chan, I'm sure she's got enough milk! Even more!"
Ban was beet red, and he rubbed his face and groaned, "That's not the point…"
Chibi's crying broke into the conversation…not the wailing, loud cry, but a low, steady sobbing…
"Twerp, don't cry…"
"Eh, Chibi, it's okay, we're hungry too…"
None of them got back to sleep that night.
The sun was high in the sky when Paul emerged from fixing the back room of the Honky Tonk. He sighed. Times were tough without Natsumi around.
His gaze fell on the only people in the whole café…Ban, Ginji, and Chibi. They were occupying a booth instead of the bar. Mostly because they were asleep. Ban was slumped on the table, Ginji was leaning back in the cushioned chair, a slight dribble hanging at the corner of his mouth, and Chibi was lying on the table itself, drinking from his bottle, and his eyes were fluttering open…and closed…and open…and closed…
Paul blinked a couple times, wondering whether he should wake them up and have another one up on their tab or leave them be. He decided on the latter, and moved to wipe the counter.
Unfortunately, Chibi chose just that moment to let his hand, the bottle still in it, fall limply away. The baby was asleep…but his hand still fell heavily on Ban's head.
"Hey…!" the Get Backer sat up sharply. His eye fell on Chibi's hand, and he sighed, yawned, and rubbed his eyes. "Aw, man, his hands are heavy for a kid…"
Ban's stomach growled.
Paul began to pray, Not the other one, not the other one…
Poor Paul. Ginji sat up straight, stretched, and yawned. "Finally, we got to sleep."
"For about five hours," Ban grumbled bad-temperedly.
"Still," Ginji shrugged. "At least Chibi stayed quiet, and now he's finally asleep." He smiled at the sleeping baby. Then his face fell, and Paul saw what was coming next. Inwardly, he groaned.
"Ban-chan, I'm hungry."
"Sorry, we're closed." Paul hurriedly retreated into the back room.
Ban came fully awake and was behind the counter in seconds, banging on the door wildly. "Paul! Hey! Open up, dammit!"
"We're closed," Paul's muffled voice stubbornly insisted.
"Ban-chan, Chibi's…" Ginji frantically tried to shush his partner as the baby on the table stirred.
Ban brushed him off, cursed and banged on the door even more wildly. "Paul!!!"
Paul banged back.
Ginji sighed, picked up the still-sleeping Chibi carefully, and walked out of the Honky Tonk unnoticed.
"Paul! Come out, we're hungry, dammit! We'll pay you as soon as we get a job!!"
"You don't want to add a broken door to your tab, Ban!"
Ban growled and the banging became somewhat…lighter.
It ceased enough for them to hear the ringing of the Honky Tonk bells. Shido walked in to see Ban with his clenched fist inches away from Paul's face. They seemed to be engaged in some sort of glaring contest, even though Shido didn't know how Ban could see Paul's eyes.
"Midou!" Shido exclaimed.
Paul calmly ducked under Ban's arm and shut the back door behind him. Glowering, Ban returned to his seat, and began to brood while smoking silently. "Shido, what will you have?" Paul asked.
Shido shook his head and walked to Ban's table, dropping a large paper bag of supplies in front of him. "Just passed by to deliver something off Madoka…"
"Oh, I see, you've become a hakobiya!" Ban jeered, heedless of his safety. "Hah! Who's the better Get Backer now?"
"MIDOU!!"
Paul sighed as Shido tackled Ban, and Ban leapt up to swing at him. The paper bag lay on the table, harmless and forgotten. The two growled and cursed as they brawled, and Paul silently begged the fates to spare him from property damage.
Just then, the bell tinkled again, and Paul glanced at the door to see one Emishi Haruki, his cheerful smile wilting into puzzlement as he stopped short in the doorway. Juubei was behind him, holding the door open for a resigned-looking Ginji, who was carrying Chibi on one arm. The baby pulled gleefully at Ginji's yellow spikes. "Thanks, Juubei, but he woke up, anyway."
"Midou-han? Shido-kun?" Emishi said tentatively, as he watched Ban pull Shido's bandanna over his eyes and Shido swing and kick simultaneously, at least one landing on Ban.
"WHAT IS IT?!" the two men roared back at a cowering Chibi-Emishi and a sweatdropping Tare-Ginji and Chibi.
"Ah…nani?" Juubei suddenly found his arms full of wriggling kid as Ginji and Emishi worked in perfect timing, successfully trapping and restraining their respective partners. With minimal trouble, they got Shido to stay at the bar and Ban back to his booth.
"Hey, Ban-chan, what's this?" Ginji held up the paper bag, and opened it without waiting for an answer.
Ban grumbled something that sounded like "Monkey-man brought it."
Ginji had pulled out a can of powdered baby milk, a couple of cloth diapers, and several take-out cartons ("Food!" he gleefully cried) when someone cleared his throat.
"Eh?" Ban and Ginji looked up.
"What do I do with this?" Juubei was still at the open doorway, sweatdropping and holding Chibi, who had snatched off his eyegear and was now trying it on for size.
"Ooooh," Chibi said, looking at the now purple-tinted world.
"Did he get something from me?" Juubei asked, his hand flailing around aimlessly.
Ban slapped his forehead. Emishi was chuckling.
"Just bring him here, Juubei, arigato!" Ginji said.
Juubei walked slowly to their table, apparently afraid of dropping the kid.
"Ah, give him to me." Ban stood and plucked Chibi from Juubei's grasp, setting the kid down on the tabletop.
"Oh yeah, Emishi, Juubei, why are the two of you here?" Ginji asked, prying the eyegear from Chibi's grip and returning it to Juubei. Chibi made noises of protest, and Ginji absentmindedly gave him a piece of meat to munch on, while shoving one of the takeout cartons to Ban.
"Juubei-han said he had to meet Kazuki-han here sometime today, and he asked me to help him get here. I had nothing better to do, so…" the Joker grinned cheerfully.
"And having something to do means slacking off and flirting?" Emishi couldn't tell if this was Shido or Ban. Possibly both. He let it pass.
Conversation ceased at that point, and they waited…
And waited…
And waited some more.
The arms of the clock on the wall were getting dizzy from spinning so much. Granted it was only three rounds, but still. Ban woke up from a light doze to see Ginji, also slumped on the table. And Chibi was not there.
"Chibi?! Where is he?!" Ban leapt up to see Shido observing an arguing Juubei and Emishi: Chibi was seated on a bar stool between them, his head turning from one to the other.
"I bet I can make him laugh more than you can."
"If this is about my having no sense of humor again…" Juubei growled.
Ban butted in. Boy he didn't seem to be thinking today. "Well samurai-boy, he's right for once. You're about as funny as a doorknob."
A vein throbbed in Juubei's forehead. "I can prove I have humor!" he cried.
He slammed down on one knee in front of Chibi and spewed out something involving green sugar, cats, and massaging chairs.
Chibi stared, his expression something like, "And then…?"
In his sleep, Ginji covered his ears and moaned, "Noo…not again…"
Emishi laughed outright at Juubei…not because of his 'humor'. "See? Even Ginji-han agrees! You're HOPELESS!"
"And he's asleep," Shido remarked neutrally.
"I'M NOT…" Juubei began in a rage.
"Just watch me!" Emishi declared. He leapt in front of Chibi, shoving Juubei off-screen. "Look at me, Chibi-han!"
Chibi's wide eyes fell on Emishi's face, now distorted by… it's impossible to describe how distorted Emishi could make his face. Maybe the closest would be, 'chameleon-like'. You know, like when the creature's sticking out it's long, long tongue?
"I don't hear him laughing," Juubei said snidely.
Undaunted, Emishi straightened up. "All right! Maybe this'll work! One… Two… Three!" And suddenly music blasted from nowhere and Emishi did the dance that looked like a cross between an octopus, worm and a jellyfish.
And Chibi still wasn't laughing. In fact, he looked disturbed.
"I think we should rescue Chibi, Ban-chan." Tare-Ginji tugged on his partner's sleeve.
Ban stared at his partner. "Since when were you awake?"
Juubei faced Emishi defiantly. "I can do that too!" He did not know, of course, exactly what Emishi was doing, as he couldn't see.
"Hah! All right," Emishi said, staring Juubei in the (blind) eye. "Do the Floppy Dance!"
Silence.
Silence.
MORE silence.
"You think he's gonna do it?" Ban commented in an aside to Ginji.
"I don't know," Ginji whispered back.
You could see the beads of sweat, and the nervous crease in Juubei's forehead. He raised his hand…and twitched.
"You can't even start," Emishi sneered.
Twitch, twitch, twitch.
"I'm betting you half the next pizza we can pay for that he won't," Ban said.
"I don't think I'm in the mood for betting now, Ban-chan."
"Shh! Look!" Ban said.
Feebly, Juubei's hands began to move. Then his feet.
Then he fell to his knees and wailed, "I CAAAAAAAN'T!"
The others were respectfully silent while Emishi danced and pranced around gaily, "Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah!"
Something in the staid samurai-doctor snapped. Without even thinking of using his needles, he leapt at Emishi and (Gasp!) began a brawl.
"Hey!" Shido suddenly snapped out of his neutral observation and tried to separate them. He became pretty involved soon.
"Not in here!" Paul bellowed, snatching Chibi off the stool and to safety.
"No use, monkey-man, you're not strong enough to stop them," Ban drawled from his seat.
"Wanna help?!" the Beastmaster roared, and a long hand emerged from the tangle of arms, legs, and fists and dragged Ban in by the collar.
Of course, Ban brought Tare-Ginji along by the ear, the poor guy squealing all the way.
This continued for about ten more minutes, miraculously staying in one spot. Clouds of dust began to rise, Tare-Ginji popping out waving his arms frantically every so often.
It penetrated, then, that the baby in Paul's arms was laughing his head off.
They stopped, Ginji flat on the floor, his eyes all swirly, Emishi dogpiled on him with Juubei yanking at the Joker's ponytail, and Shido seated on the needle-man, he and Ban grappling at each other's throats.
"Heeheeheehee," Chibi gulped out, pointing at them.
"See?! He's LAUGHING!" Juubei and Emishi said at the same time.
Paul sighed in exasperation. "What a sadistic little baby," he muttered.
"He was laughing at me," Emishi said.
"Wrong, me!"
"No, me!"
"Me!"
"Me!"
"Me!"
Shido dragged Ban and Ginji back to their place. "This is not our fight."
Chibi stopped laughing, beginning to wriggle in Paul's arms, a worried expression making his way onto his face. A flash of panic dawned in Paul's eyes. Quickly putting the baby on the counter, he rushed to the back room.
Emishi looked at Chibi and pointed at the baby. "Look! He's dancing! Let me join you Chibi-han!"
Chibi did the following.
First, he started tapping his foot, his eyes squinted, lips pursed. His hands clasped themselves in front of him, and he began to sway, back and forth, back and forth, knees bent. Then, he began to make small paces, from side to side, the expression on his face looking like he was… trying to hold something in…
"Woah, you can really dance, Chibi-han!" Emishi exclaimed, carefully following Chibi's movements. He got carried away, because in a sudden spurt of exuberance, he lifted Chibi over his head, swung him around, and hugged him. "You're more entertaining than Juubei-han!"
Well, Ban and Ginji didn't notice because Ginji was busy trying to keep Shido and Ban from tearing the spikes out of each other's heads. And before they knew it…
Emishi suddenly felt something soak into his shirt. He looked down…
"AAAAAAAAAH!"
Paul came out of the back room, towels, diapers, and soap in his hand…and groaned. "Crap. Too late."
"Haruki? What's wrong?" Juubei asked.
"Midou-han! Ginji-han! HELP!!!"
Chaos ensued.
And bells tinkled, and Kazuki was there, holding the door open for a black-haired high school student.
"I'm back!" Natsumi called cheerfully…then she stared. Was that a… baby in Ginji's arms?
And why was Chibi-Ban flying at her, in slow motion, with open arms and a joyful expression, crying…
"Natsumi-chaaaaaaaan!"
A/N: Chibi's "weewee dance" is based on what Riyuji (still) does when waiting to go to the bathroom. :D Like right now. No kidding.
To Moronicus, KarotsaMused, acbworm, Faye-chan, Millie-chan,: Thanks for the props!
To Ichigo Akira: Yes, Akabane will meet Chibi...soon.
To Wielder of Paperclips: Make a decent review na lang!
To ViL: See! We're "EDUCATIONAL!". Hahaha! Yes, Akabane-san will appear soon. Yes it will be non-yaoi, throughout but what was just hinted was about the most amount of romance you will see in this fic.
To Eizan Fujishima: Stop guessing! From now on...please send all guesses to siamesebrains yahoo.com . :D
To Philips: Ang haba ng review mo!
To The Corpse of One Legato: Hey new reviewer! As said before, Akabane will come soon.
To Scyre Liquith XII: Shadow Phoenix! Thanks for the review.
To Veggie Briefs: Another new revierwer! We're just following where the story takes us.
