Ichigo didn't think he was particularly good with kids. His sisters were four years younger than him, so he often had to babysit for them, so admittedly he knew a thing or two; as long as there were no fires, body fluids, or alien abductions he would consider it a good night. Still, he hadn't babysat since Karin and Yuzu were eight or nine, so briefly wondered about his neighbours' sanity when they asked him to watch their daughters, as in plural, for the night.

It was actually Isshin that had passed along the job to his son, Yuzu and Karin were gone for a school trip that weekend, and he just so happened to be home. Ichigo had no doubt that his father was insane for doing so. But, he couldn't say no; he had already been paid. As a university student he made it a point to never turn down easy money, and babysitting was as easy as it came. Unless the kids were complete brats. He was hoping that they wouldn't be brats. He hadn't known that his neighbour had kids, when were they even born? Surely they wouldn't expect him to take care of a newborn, would they? He shivered. They wouldn't. No parent would trust a nineteen year old to take care of a newborn by themselves. Or he hoped so. Either way this was how he was going to be spending his Saturday night. Not that he was complaining... but he kind of, sort of would have rather done something a bit more fun with his boyfriend.

He honestly hadn't expected Toushiro to say yes when he asked him to help out. Honestly, he didn't need help, but he wanted to spend time together. He couldn't remember the last time Toushiro had flat out denied him a request, well a reasonable request. He didn't even blink when he had told Ichigo that he was not under any circumstances to attempt a keg stand at the upcoming frat party (And no he didn't care that Renji had dared him). Even though spending a night babysitting was far from an ideal date, he had agreed.

So, at 6:30pm sharp Ichigo and Toushiro rang the neighbour's doorbell wincing as they heard a shrill voice, screaming in excitement.

There were two girls; Mio who was five and Akari, an annoyed twelve-year-old who most certainly did not need a babysitter. Once their parents had left Akari shut herself in her bedroom, refusing to even acknowledge either of them. Mio, on the other hand, could not be anymore hyper.

...

"Are you two like my mommy and daddy?" Mio asked as she watched Ichigo grab Toushiro's hand as they sat down for a snack of bananas and cashew nuts.

Ichigo looked at Toushiro and smiled. "Not quite, we're not married. Not yet anyway."

Toushiro rolled his eyes. "Yet? Shut – be quiet, you buffoon. None of that nonsense."

Mio giggled at the word buffoon and Ichigo and bent to peck him on the forehead. Toushiro wrinkled his nose.

"Why is your hair white?" she asked less than a minute later.

Ichigo sighed internally; he had noticed the small girl eyeing Toushiro's hair all night. He'd been expecting the question, but hadn't come up with a good way to answer, or even divert it. Toushiro simply cocked his head.

"I'll tell you after you get ready for bed."

"No fair," she pouted.

"You don't like bedtime stories?"

Ichigo raised his eyebrows as she dashed off to her bedroom. He'd been wondering how he was going to get such an energetic kid to bed.

"You're a genius," he mumbled, pecking Toushiro on the temple.

Toushiro shrugged, "So I've been told."

She scuttled back out after a few minutes to grab Toushiro by the hand and drag him to the bathroom. "I need help brushing my teeth."

Akari was on her laptop in the bedroom and only raised an eyebrow when she saw them come in. Mio huddled under her covers still holding Toushiro's hand.

"What, is it bedtime for me too?" she asked while rolling her eyes.

"Your sister wanted a story. We won't be invading your privacy for too long; don't worry." Ichigo sighed, sitting down at the foot of Mio's bed with the pink, glittery unicorn stickers.

"Whatever." She mumbled and reached into the drawer on her nightstand to pull out a pair of earbuds.

"Okay, so are you sure you want to know?" Toushiro began once Mio had stopped moving.

"Yes!"

"Are you going to believe me?"

"Uh huh! Tell me!"

Ichigo grinned when Toushiro patted her head to keep her from jumping up and down.

"Okay, well the reason I have white hair is because I made a deal with a witch."

She gasped, and Ichigo had to hold back a snort. Akari looked over with slightly piqued interest.

"Yes, when I was little my mom was really sick. The doctors couldn't do anything-"

"What was wrong? Did she have a tummy ache?"

"No, Mio, something much worse than that," Akari sighed.

Ichigo turned to see that she had removed one of her earbuds to listen.

Toushiro nodded. "She slept all day and had bad dreams at night, but nothing would wake her up. One day I heard that they was a witch passing through my town and I thought that if anything could make my mom better it would be magic. So I went to look for her. But, the thing is, witches look like everyone else. They don't have green skin or warts-"

"So how did you find her?"

Toushiro smiled that lopsided grin of his that had Ichigo sitting on his hands to keep from jumping him in front of the girls.

"They say that if you whisper the word pumpkin they sneeze."

Mio giggled.

"So, I went around for weeks trying to find the witch, and I did. When I was walking home from school there was a woman in a grey business suit behind me. She looked normal, but when I said pumpkin she sneezed loudly and jumped like a frog. Then she spun around looking for me and she looked angry, let me tell you. I was scared at first; she looked like she was going to turn me into a slug – they do that to people they don't like, you know."

Mio's eyes widened and she covered her mouth with pudgy hands.

"But, I remembered my mom, and how much I wanted to help her, so I told the witch was I wanted. She made a deal with me; she would help my mom if I gave her my hair. I used to have really long hair; it was almost down to my butt-"

Mio laughed and Akari snickered softly.

"And she cut it all off." When I went home my mom was all better, so it was all worth it. No one noticed that all my hair was gone. I guess it was part of the magic, but when it grew back it was white."

Mio was speechless, she tilted her mind processing the story until, "Are you sure you didn't just dye it?"

Ichigo laughed as Toushiro winked at the five-year-old. Akari had put her earbuds back in but she didn't look as sullen anymore.

...

"I didn't know you were good with kids," Ichigo grinned as he pulled Toushiro into his side as they sat together on the living room couch. The girls were sleeping, or at least Mio was, Akari most probably was still awake on her computer, but they could imagine that her bedtime wasn't really enforced. Besides it was a weekend; it would have been unnecessarily mean to make her go to bed so early.

Toushiro shrugged resting his head against Ichigo's chest. "Children are easy, they're simple. Like dogs. Except they talk."

Ichigo chuckled and leaned over to kiss him, guiding his face to his with his index finger under his chin. Toushiro allowed his a chaste peck on the lips before drawing back.

"We're not making out on a stranger's couch."

Ichigo snorted; it would be awkward if they came home, or if one of the kids saw them. He pretended to pout. Toushiro shook his head and kissed him softly before nuzzling into his side.

"I never know what to expect when I ask me to come home with you."

"I like keeping things unpredictable. Half the time I don't know what to expect either."

Toushiro chuckled softly.

"Next time we'll go on a real date, I promise."

Thanks to Seijuku Ceremony for this one :)

Next up is Nico Zi

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- Mymomomo