Let's say in this fic that Casper is 16 and Thatch is 17. Takes place sometime after the glasses drabble. X3
Casper had given Thatch his number, but he had never expected him to actually use it. Nor had he expected the first call from the vampire to be full of panic. He had answered a call from an unknown number and was immediately greeted with;
"Help! Please!" From a very distressed sounding Thatch.
"What? Thatch? What's wrong?"
"I lost my cousin!" the vampire snapped with panic.
"What? Slow down!"
"My baby cousin! I lost her! I lost a baby!" Thatch explained quickly.
"Ok, where are you?"
The vampire proceeded to give him the address and then hang up. Surprisingly, Thatch didn't live very far from him, in fact, their homes were connected by the same stretch of forest, albeit in a crescent esc shape.
I relatively short flight and he had reached the house. The building was two story and looked somewhat old, all the curtains were closed, it looked like no one was home. Though, vampire homes often did. Their eyes worked better in lower light, and the sunlight hurt them.
Casper quickly flew to the door and knocked, it quickly flung open. Thatch turned on his heel and sprinting back inside as, clearly frantic and looking for something. Casper took the open door as an invite and quickly went inside.
The home looked a lot more modern inside, almost like a Spanish styled home.
"So your baby cousin is missing?" the ghost asked as he followed the other.
"YES! Now help me find her!" Thatch snapped over his shoulder as he looked in some cabinets.
Casper had never seen Thatch so frantic, so genuinely panicked out of his mind. He was breathing like a human on a jog, which wasn't a good sign, as vampires breathed slower than then to begin with.
"Ok, ok. Try to calm down, she couldn't have gotten far. Where did you see her last?" The ghost asked calmly.
The fact that he was met with no snark really showed just how worried Thatch was. The vampire wordlessly led him to the living room. On the couch was an empty baby basket.
"She was right there, fast asleep. I got up to get a drink." He gestured to the kitchens entrance, which could not have been more the 6 feet away from the couch. "I came back, she was gone!"
"Well, she can't be moving around, you would have seen or heard her. Wait, can she even walk?" Casper looked up at him with sudden concern.
Thatch's face became a little pale, realizing the implication. Casper also realized the implication he just made, he started panicking too.
"Ok, ok, don't freak out! It would be nearly impossible for someone to sneak in, get past you, and manage to steal a baby, which likely would have cried." The ghost reasoned, hiding his own panic the best he could. "And who even would want to? She got to still be in the house."
Thatch did not calm down.
"Ok, ok. Let's just calm down, and think about this like detectives." Casper took in a deep breath and encouraged the vampire to do the same. that didn't help him ether.
"Alright, let's see here…" Casper walked over to the basket and sat down on the floor next to it.
"What are you doing!?" Thatch snapped, wondering why the ghost was wasting time.
"Seeing this room from a baby vampires perspective." The ghost scanned the room and took a double look at the recliner next to the TV. He then crawled over to it.
"Would you please lean this back so I can look under it?"
Thatch did as asked, grabbing the back of the chair and exposing the underside.
Casper reached in and pulled out a very small bat. The bat squeaked a bunch in distress, and then in a puff of purple smoke, turned into a lilac colored baby. Thatch put the recliner down and groaned in relief.
"I'm assuming this is your cousin?" Casper chuckled.
"No, that's my aunt, we've been looking for her for 6 months." The vampire rolled his eyes sarcastically.
The ghost got up and walked back over to the couch and sat down, cradling the baby and talking to her in a baby voice, saying something along the lines of "You gave cousin Thatch such a scare!"
Said vampire plopped down onto the couch next to them and rubbed his forehead. He looked back over at Casper, who was bundling the baby back up in her basket.
"So... how did you know she was gonna be under there?"
"Well, she couldn't walk, so she had to be in bat form. And I figured maybe she would have been looking for somewhere darker to sleep." Casper smiled sweetly as he made a little blanket fort over the basket, giving the baby vamp a nice dark place to nap.
"Oh…" Thatch blushed a bit with embarrassment. He had looked everywhere in that house to find her, and she had never left the darn living room. And even worse...he hadn't heard her heartbeat, he had been so frazzled her couldn't hear it over the sound of his own…
"So, what's her name?" the ghost asked sweetly.
"Huh?" Thatch snapped back to attention.
"Her name? She has one doesn't she?" Casper chuckled.
"Oh, it's Ann."
The ghost cooed at little Ann; "Aww, pretty."
"You would have said that at any name." Thatch scoffed.
"…True, but I still mean it."
There was an awkward moment of silence, at least for Casper, Thatch seemed too tired to feel that emotion at the moment. The ghost cleared his throat and got up from the sofa.
"I guess I should go now…I'm glad I was able to help." He smiled nervously.
He started to walk away when a hand grabbed his wrist.
"Wait, uh-" Thatch avoided eye contact, his face a bit flushed.
Casper blinked.
"My parents and hers won't be back for another two and a half hours. Could you…maybe..stay and help me." The vampire mumbled shamefully and gestured to the basket not far from him.
The ghost smiled brightly.
"Sure! I've always liked the idea of babysitting, never gotten the chance though." Casper turned around and sat right back down on the couch.
"Why not?" The vampire raised a brow.
"Well, most humans don't want me around them at all, for obvious reasons. And many of the underworld parents think I'd be a bad influence, or rather, a good influence on their kids." Casper chuckled bitter sweetly. It hurt him that it was like that.
"So, did her parents leave some kind of a list to follow?" he asked simply.
"Yeah, it says she needs fed at 7:00, so in about 10 minutes." Thatch handed over a slip of paper.
Casper looked over the sheet and read the instructions thoroughly.
"Ok these are simple enough." He smiled. "While on the subject, can vampires her age usually shift into their bat form?"
"No! Which makes this all the more annoying!" Thatch snapped frustratedly.
"I take it this babysitting thing wasn't your choice…" Casper asked with a nervous chuckle.
"No, my mom convinced me. "Her parents need a break, and it'll be good for you to bond with her! It would make me so happy if you would!"" Thatch mimicked an aloof sounding woman as he quoted his mother with some annoyance.
"Well…provided we don't lose track of Ann again; your mom should be quite happy." The ghost smiled kindly.
"I don't even like kids…" the vampire groaned.
Casper's smiled faded; "…You don't?"
"No, they're annoying, loud, gross, and exhausting." Thatch groaned with more annoyance.
That hurt Casper, a lot.
"You're just describing yourself…" the ghost bitterly muttered, he stated it so quietly that Thatch almost didn't hear it. Almost.
"What?" the vampire growled, though he was more confused that mad. It wasn't like Casper to make cold comments like that.
"It's time for her bottle, I'll go get it ready." The ghost changed the subject with a slightly sad tone, getting up and grabbing the baby bag he went into the kitchen, leaving the confused vampire to get Ann out of her basket.
It was a little secret he kept to himself, but he had grown to like Thatch quite a bit. Sometimes he'd let himself imagine the silly little idea of one day being with him…romantically... just to see what it might be like. He also really wanted a kid one day. But now it seemed like he couldn't have both of these things…Not that he ever expected or truly wanted the first thing, or so he told himself.
"Why did I say that? That was rude." Casper mixed together the formula and poured it into a mug. "It's his choice if he doesn't want kids one day, It's not my place to judge…" he placed it in the microwave and started heating it up, testing the temperature every 10 seconds. "Why do I even care? It doesn't affect my life any. It's not like I ever actually would marry him, that's absurd. It was a mental curiosity and nothing more." He pulled it out of the microwave and started pouring the formula into a bottle. "He doesn't even like me for starters, and I don't…" Casper stood in the middle of the kitchen, bottle in hand, staring at the floor sadly. "I don't…Maybe I like him a little bit…" he looked up and sighed sadly, then started to leave the kitchen. "Casper, you've got horrible taste in people..."
He walked out of the kitchen, and blinked. There was Thatch, genuinely smiling like an idiot, bouncing a giggling baby Ann on his knee. The ghost smiled and blushed a little. The sight gave him a giggly fluttery feeling in his heart.
Thatch noticed Casper watching and turned beet red.
"err, I was just trying to help get any air bubbles out of her stomach…T-that's what you're supposed to do before feeding them, right?" The vampire responded nervously.
"Yeah sure, Mr 'I hate kids.'" Casper smirked and placed a hand on his hip.
"S-shut up!" the other snapped with an embarrassed stutter.
The ghost just kept smirking, sauntered over, and handed him the bottle.
"Uh, why don't you feed her instead?" Thatch attempted to hand the bottle back.
"But, she's your cousin." Casper raised a brow in confusion.
"I know, but…" The vampire looked very uncomfortable
"Oh my god, are you embarrassed to feed a baby?" the ghost laughed in astonishment.
"Shut it!" Thatch snapped, his face still red.
"Fine, I'll do it. But just so you know, it wouldn't have made you any less tough." Casper took the bottle, and, carefully, the baby from Thatch. All while still smirking the other a mischievous side eye.
"Wipe that smirk off you face!" The red faced vampire hissed.
"Shush, I'm trying to feed a baby, Mr. delicate masculinity." Casper whispered, still smirking.
Thatch crossed his arms with a huff and turned away. Casper knew this was more of a "I don't wanna look soft" thing, than a "I'm a man" thing, but he teased him about it none the less.
The young phantom adjusted his hold on her and gave her the bottle, which she happily drank from.
"I'm glad she's not fussy." Casper chuckled. "And she seems to like my sweater."
"Maybe she'll puke on it." The vampire muttered.
"Oh, quit being such a grump." The ghost teased.
There was a little while of silence, well, outside of the cooing noises the baby kept making.
"So, uh, have you had dinner yet?" Thatch asked awkwardly.
"Uh, well, no."
"Well, I haven't ether. So, uh, I'm gonna fix some frozen pizzas, and it you want any, help yourself. And no, the pizzas have no blood or anything like that. Just no garlic." The vampire continued.
"Oh, uh, thanks." Casper responded awkwardly.
"…yeah." Thatch mumbled, not sure what else to say. And then he walked off to the kitchen.
Soon enough Ann was done with her bottle, she was burped and then put back in her basket. Just as Casper placed her in there, Thatch came back and handed him a plate and a can of soda.
"Pineapple? I see you're a man of taste!" the ghost laughed.
"People who hate pineapple on pizza are just wimps with acid reflux." The vampire scoffed.
Casper laughed again.
"Hey, you laughed at a mean joke." Thatch smirked and raised a brow.
"I doubt you making a joke about pineapple pizza haters in your own living room is going to hurt anyone's feelings." Casper rolled his eyes and lightly pushed the other.
"My point still stands." The vampire smirked confidently.
"I try to be good, but I'm certainly no angel."
Thatch had to stop himself from saying his response, which was "No, but you kind of look like one." What, no, he didn't think Casper was a little bit cute, what are you taking about? Pff. He's just a sweet, blue eyed, living marshmallow. Nope nothing cute about that at all, no sir…Ok, maybe he was a little cute…
Thatch gabbed the remote and turned on the TV, he didn't wanna have to think about his feelings.
The evening proceeded fairly uneventfully, aside from Ann at one-point morphing into a bat and flying off, which caused Thatch to turn into a bat as well and chase her down. He finally caught her, but she turned back into her normal form and he couldn't keep a hold of her, he dropped her, but luckily Casper caught her. The ghost then played with her for a while, Thatch playing with her when he thought Casper wasn't looking. Eventually she got tired and they put her back in her basket/blanket fort.
They watched TV some more, occasionally making jokes about the shows. At one point Casper got a little brave and slightly leaned on the others shoulder, blushing blue all the while. Thatch, red faced, considered putting his arm around the other, but threw the idea away as quickly as it came to him. He did lean a little bit on the other though. (and maybe he smiled a little bit too)
Thatch looked over at the clock on the wall and frowned.
"My family is gonna be home soon, you should probably go. My dad doesn't like me bringing people over, not that I really care, but…" Thatch stated awkwardly, sitting up straight.
To say Casper was a little disappointed was an understatement. He had been quite comfortable, and his heart had been very happy.
"Oh, yeah, I get that. I guess I should go then…" the ghost stated equally as awkwardly, getting up from the couch.
"Err, wait a sec. I'll be right back." Thatch got up and headed into the kitchen.
After a few minutes, Thatch came back and handed him what seemed to be a paper plate covered in foil.
"Take some pizza, you don't eat enough." The vampire muttered, blushing slightly. "Consider it a thank you for helping me watch the little gremlin." He gestured to the baby not far from them.
"Oh, well thank you…" Casper smiled softly. "If, uh, you ever need to babysit her again, let me know. I'd be glad to help. This was sort of… fun." He flushed.
"Apart from her running off twice." The vampire chuckled.
"Apart from that." Casper repeated with a laugh.
They smiled at each other for a moment before Casper walked around the other and headed for the door. Thatch watched with a sweet smile as the other disappeared around the corner, and he heard the door open and close. He couldn't help but feel a little…love sick.