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“So,” Felix began, some irritation already in his tone, which Dimitri couldn’t say was unexpected in the slightest. “Your step-sister called to ask you a favor… and the favor was for you to babysit.”
“Yes.” Dimitri nodded, his leg bouncing nervously, which ended up bouncing the toddler settled on it, being held onto by Dimitri’s hands. The result seemed to please the little boy at least, coaxing a few giggles from him.
“And you called me.”
“Yes.”
“Because…?”
Dimitri seemed to look even more weary at the question, looking as exhausted as an actual parent would, which could only make Felix scoff. It wasn’t as if they even had to watch over the kid for that long, only until evening, but Dimitri looked pale, nervous and tired like he was going to be doing this for days.
“I don’t know what I’m doing with children, really…” Dimitri replied, trailing off as he glanced down at the boy in his lap. “I mean, I’m plenty friendly with them, but I’ve never really had to take care of one.”
Felix pressed a palm to his forehead, already feeling the beginnings of a headache, and heaved an impatient sigh. “So why didn’t you call Sylvain? He’s the one who had to deal with us all in diapers, practically.”
The little boy was squirming in Dimitri’s hold now, his little hands reaching for Dimitri’s shirt and tugging on the fabric like he wanted something, or perhaps was simply feeling bored.
“I did! He said he was busy… and truth be told, Sylvain’s been nagging me a lot lately, I’m not sure I wanted to spend the entire day with him anyway. Please don’t tell him I said that. I am sorry to bother you, though, Felix…”
The sincerity in both Dimitri’s tone and expression are enough to make Felix feel a bit guilty for being grumpy about the request, since it’s not as if Dimitri asks him for much very often… It’d probably be better if he did, since he had a foolish, pigheaded (boarheaded) habit of trying to do everything by himself, ultimately overworking himself and stressing everyone else out as a consequence, too. Really, he ought to commend Dimitri for finally recognizing some limits in himself.
“It’s fine,” Felix settles on, wanting to brush that aside as quickly as possible. “So? What’s his name?”
The first smile creeps onto Dimitri’s features, then, as he glances down at the boy in his lap, gingerly running a hand through his dark hair. “Otto.”
Easy enough to remember.
“Has he eaten?”
“Edelgard said he had an early lunch before she dropped him off.”
Felix gives him a flat, unimpressed look before dropping himself onto the couch next to him, Otto shifting to stare at him with wide, curious eyes.
“How are you struggling, then? Toddlers aren’t hard to entertain. Didn’t Edelgard leave any toys with him?”
Dimitri nods, taking one hand off of Otto despite looking wary about doing so, and gesturing towards a backpack leaning against the wall.
“A few things, and a couple books to go through with him, perhaps…”
Again, Felix finds himself unimpressed.
a
“I don’t understand the problem.”
Dimitri sighs, which is enough to remind Felix that he wasn’t going to complain about doing this with him. Right. “Never mind,” Felix says quickly, reaching out, “give me him, go get yourself a coffee or something. You look like you haven’t slept.”
There’s a slight grimace on Dimitri’s lips as he hands over Otto, who Felix takes carefully into his arms.
“I haven’t, really,” Dimitri admits, getting to his feet and stretching his arms out. “Can I get you anything?”
That explains why Dimitri wants the help, then, just in case. It’s incredibly unlikely that he’d just fall asleep while watching over Otto, but Felix can still understand why he might want someone else around just to make sure he isn’t making any mistakes while he’s sleep deprived. Privately, Felix thinks Dimitri might always be sleep deprived, though, given how long he’s been dealing with insomnia.
That’s fine, then. Even if he only invited Felix over because he wanted to avoid Sylvain’s ‘nagging’, that’s alright. Felix can certainly sympathize with that much, since Sylvain has also been poking at him for -- well, years.
“Just water is fine.”
Dimitri nods, though he looks a bit skeptical, and heads into his kitchen, leaving Felix with little Otto seated on his lap now. He’s a fairly cute kid, even though Felix wouldn’t consider him especially fond of children -- as expected of Edelgard, her child seems to have manners, not drooling all over his caretakers or anything.
Maybe he’s too old for that anyway? Felix wouldn’t really know. He sighs again, figuring it’s best to treat the little guy like his own person instead of just bossing him around, so…
“I’m Felix,” he says, feeling incredibly awkward, admittedly, introducing himself to a child like this.
“Uncle Felix,” Otto repeats back to him, nodding very seriously.
“No, Dimitri is your uncle. I’m your uncle’s --” The pause probably doesn’t register as bizarre to Otto, but Felix finds himself tripping over his own tongue, genuinely unsure of what to say. He and Dimitri have had a relatively rocky relationship, all things considered, mostly due to… well, life. Bad circumstances that neither of them have handled ideally. They used to be the closest of friends, a fact that Felix never stops being reminded of by Dimitri himself, as well as Sylvain and Ingrid. It shouldn’t feel more complicated than that, but it does and Felix curses himself for getting flustered over such a small thing, especially in front of a small child who can’t even understand the turmoil he’s going through. “-- friend,” he finishes, voice tight.
“Uncle Felix!” Otto says again, beaming up at him, at which point Felix decides to give up. Even he knows there are some battles not worth fighting.
“Fine,” he concedes, lifting Otto up off his lap and setting him down onto the floor gently. “What do you want to do? Your uncle said there are toys in that backpack, why don’t you pick something?”
He trots over obediently and starts rifling through when Dimitri walks back into the room, sipping at his coffee already and extending a glass to Felix. He narrows his eyes as he takes it, eyeing the cup warily.
“Isn’t that too hot, still?”
Dimitri shrugs, glancing pointedly at Otto instead of looking Felix’s way, which they both know isn’t subtle or a coincidence.
“It’s alright, I can tell it’s hot, but it doesn’t hurt.”
As if that’s much comfort to Felix when he already worries so much about Dimitri.
At least he’s spared from having to comment thanks to Otto -- he makes his way back over to them both, proudly holding up a book and plopping it down on Felix’s lap.
“Uncle Felix read?” the little boy asks, looking hopeful enough that Felix doesn’t have the heart to tell him no. Dimitri sets his coffee cup down on the side table and lifts Otto once more, settling him between he and Felix on the couch, a soft smile on his own lips now.
“Fine,” Felix says again, somehow feeling a lot more understanding of Dimitri’s exhaustion already. It’s just reading, but the energy of this child, the brightness of his smile, has Felix feeling a little tired.
Otto wiggles around to get himself comfortable, tucking himself against Dimitri’s side, which Felix can understand. From his own personal experience he knows that Dimitri is quite warm, something he used to indulge in all the time when they were young. He wouldn’t mind being able to do that again some day, but for now there’s some sort of unspoken tension between them that Felix doesn’t know how to break through.
He’s not totally ignorant to the nature of his own struggle, though, and to be honest, it doesn’t help to see Dimitri smiling softly and offering Otto his hand to hold onto.
That’s for another day, though, those feelings -- he can examine them later. For now, he opens up the book and takes a sip of his water before clearing his throat, preparing to read. If he keeps sneaking sideways glances at Dimitri, Dimitri either doesn’t seem to notice or doesn’t think anything of it.
Good.
Halfway through the story he notices that Dimitri’s eyes are closed, his grip on Otto’s hand a little slack, and that’s even better.