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Alan handed over Martin to North, who had shouldered his way in front of Sonic so that he’d be the one that got the one-year-old. The toddler waved at Alan as soon as he was settled in North’s arms. “Don’t do anything crazy with him. Just stay here and keep your eyes on him. Everything he needs is in these bags-”
Sonic and North both thought that the suitcase and diaper bag Alan had brought to the living room was way too much stuff. Pete and Way were only away for a few days, celebrating their honeymoon at some resort that had made Sonic unbearably jealous when he looked at Way’s private instagram that morning. There was no way Martin needed so much for such a short amount of time.
“What, is his whole crib in this thing?”
“No. I have a little bassinet for him next to my bed. Pete bought it for here.” Alan tapped the suitcase with his foot. “It’s mostly the rest of his toys and picture books. His play mat is over there.”
Alan gestured to an area of the living room with a colorful racetrack-themed mat. Toys were scattered across it.
“He’s got a lot of toys. The little guy was pretty sad yesterday about his parents being away, so he needs a lot of distracting.”
Sonic bopped Martin’s nose and patted his head. “Poor pup. Uncle North and Uncle Sonic won’t let you be sad anymore.”
“Yeah! Let’s go check out your toys, kiddo.” North brought the baby over to the play mat, sitting down with him.
As North lifted up a colorful plush and squeezed it to make it start singing and flashing colors, which caught Martin’s attention, Alan relaxed. “Just stay here until I get back later, okay? I’ll bring dinner on my way home. His food is in the fridge. There’s instructions on the fridge door. Don’t worry about bathing him or anything, just play with him and feed him a snack in about an hour. If he starts getting really fussy, he probably wants to be put down for a nap. Keep an eye on him constantly. He’s sort of walking now and has been crawling everywhere.”
Sonic waved him off. There was no way that looking after a baby for a few hours could possibly be difficult, especially not for the both of them. “We’ve got this, Uncle, don’t worry. Go handle the emergency at the garage. He’s just a year old, this’ll be easy.”
“He’s 14 months.”
Sonic didn’t see how that made much of a difference. “Like I said, a year.”
Alan sighed. “Don’t let Way know I let you watch the pup. I didn’t ask him or Pete who’s okay for backup. So don’t go anywhere. I swore to Way that I’d keep Martin safe and sound in my house. And make sure to give Bobo some more food later. And don’t let him bother the kid. He’s friendly and Martin likes him, but he doesn’t realize how big and heavy he is. I don’t want him to try to lay his head on Martin. Kid isn’t strong enough to keep the dog from suffocating him. He might knock him over too.”
After more promises that they had things handled with both the baby and the dog and that they absolutely wouldn’t leave the house so Alan would stop fussing and just go, Sonic bodily pushed Alan out the front door, calling after him, “Jeff is waiting for you at the garage! We got this!”
Sonic waved as Alan hopped into his Jeep and drove off. Once Alan had vanished around a corner, Sonic went back in.
North was holding Martin up so the toddler could stand on his feet, letting the pup bounce. “Check it out! He’s dancing!”
Sonic pulled out his phone to film the pup. “Remind me to send this to Way later with some K-pop song put over it.”
North lit up as he thought of an idea, excitedly saying, “Hey! We should take him to the park. I bet he’d love that.”
“Bobo would like that too!” Sonic agreed, immediately disregarding how Alan had made them promise not to leave the house just moments earlier. “I’ll go find his harness and Alan’s keys!”
They would, of course, be taking one of Alan’s cars instead. Sonic could never pass up the chance to drive one of Alan’s expensive cars, no matter how many times he’d been scolded for borrowing them without permission. At least this time North wouldn’t be tattling on him for taking the car, since he was going along. Maybe there would be a chance for them to go out and get back before Alan did, and he could avoid the lecture.
After finding Bobo’s harness and leash and managing to get it onto the dog, Sonic felt a bit tired. Bobo was a good dog and had obediently stood there, but he was huge. After taking a breather, Sonic grabbed Martin’s baby bag and what he thought they might need for the park and headed for the garage. North followed, telling Martin how they were going to go have lots of fun. The toddler was staring at him with wide eyes, obviously excited about however much of North’s rambling he could understand.
In the garage, there was a car seat sitting by the door with a note on it. North stooped down to grab it and read it out loud. “Don’t worry about what Way said. Here’s his car seat if you need it. Pete.”
Neither of them had even thought of a car seat. They supposed they’d really dodged a bullet there. Otherwise they might have had to disappoint themselves, the dog, and the baby.
“Awesome! Your dad left your seat for us. That’s good. We might have gotten in trouble, huh?”
“I wonder what Way said. What’d your mama say to Uncle, puppy?” Martin just babbled a bit and echoed the word Mama a few times. Sonic leaned forward to nuzzle him. “You’re so cute! No wonder Way loves you so much!”
“Probably not to take him anywhere. Way’s like a crazy helicopter parent now, right?”
“Yeah, definitely.” Sonic scanned the garage for the perfect car, which would fit both the dog and the car seat. After picking one, he found the key on the hook and headed towards it. “It’s wild. I never thought Way would be able to handle kids. But the second Pete introduced him to Martin, Way was obsessed.”
Alan had a little net barrier hanging in the garage, so Sonic got Bobo in the back of the car and put up the net. Then North handed him Martin so he could toss in the diaper bag and get the car seat hooked up. With the baby and dog secured and ready, they headed out.
-
On their way to the park, Sonic’s phone started going off with an alarm, and he shrieked. “Our stream!”
Before Alan had called them and asked them to take over babysitting, the two of them had been planning to do a Twitch stream for their joint personal channel, and had posted earlier that they would be playing different racing games North had gathered to try with their racing sim setup. They had actually been in the middle of adjusting the setup so their camera would be in a better position, but had abandoned that as soon as the opportunity to babysit their nephew for the first time came up.
Though Way had officially moved in and bonded with Pete a few months earlier and became Martin’s new parent, neither of them had been given the chance to babysit yet, which Sonic took offense to. The two of them were cool and fun, perfect to become a child’s favorite uncles. While it would have been forgivable if it was only Alan who’d looked after Martin before, as he was the most responsible member of the pack, instead even Babe had been given the chance before them.
Well, technically Charlie, who seemed to be the second most responsible after Alan, but with Charlie came Babe. It just wasn’t fair. At least now they could make up for it.
Even though it was interfering with their stream.
North pulled out his phone. He had Twitch already on it, and said to Sonic, “We can do a mobile stream! It’s not gaming, but we can do some kind of question thing or live vlog.”
“Bobo always gets us more views on stuff. Do you want to be on a stream, Bobo? Help the team out like your old man?”
The Great Dane barked. Martin started laughing, waving his arms to try to reach back for the dog.
The two of them exchanged a look. Not only did they have Bobo to boost the view count of their stream, they also had Martin. Their cute little nephew was bound to do just as well as his canine cousin.
“Post that we’re going to be a bit delayed. We’ll start it at the park.”
-
In Koh Samui, Pete grabbed Way’s wrist as he reached for his phone. The two of them were sitting by the side of their resort suite’s private pool, drying off after an afternoon dip. Way had been able to ignore his phone for most of the day, only occasionally using it to take pictures, but now he had tried to sneakily grab it in a way that let Pete know immediately that he was not taking selfies.
“Way, angel, he’s fine,” Pete reassured him. “Alan’s taking good care of him. We said we wouldn’t call until later.”
Way pouted. “How did you know I wanted to text about Martin? Did you read my mind?”
“I didn’t need to. It’s obvious.”
Way sighed and let his head drop back onto his chair, bringing his hand away from his phone. “Is it?”
Pete reached over to ruffle Way’s hair, making the younger Enigma huff and swat at him. “It’s very cute how worried you are about the pup. But you don’t need to be. You told me how much you trust Alan.”
“Of course I trust Alan.” Way turned his head towards him. “I just miss Martin. I need a distraction.”
Before Pete could even come up with a way to distract his mate, Way snatched up his phone and went onto Twitter.
“North and Sonic are streaming on Twitch. That should work.”
Pete wanted to sigh, but refrained. He had the rest of the day and all of the next to have Way to himself and keep him focused on their honeymoon. Watching a little stream of Way’s friends for an hour or so would be fine.
“I’ll go get us some drinks.”
While mixing some drinks at the little bar in their suite, Pete heard the sound of Way opening the stream. North and Sonic’s loud and cheery voices were clear from the phone. Pete had no problem with the two, but he hadn’t really expected to hear their voices while he and Way took a vacation to finally celebrate their mating a few months late. As long as it made Way happy, he supposed it was perfectly fine. The stream was bound to be entertaining at the least.
“What the fuck?” Way exclaimed a few seconds later, sitting up straight and staring down at his phone with wide eyes.
“Way, what’s wr-” Pete cut himself off when he heard an entirely unexpected but very familiar sounding string of baby babble suddenly come through Way’s phone. He instantly recognized his son’s sweet little voice. “Martin?”
He set down the bottle and glass he was holding and hurried over to crouch next to Way’s chair. Way turned the phone slightly so they could both stare at the screen. Sure enough, Martin was on the Twitch stream, sitting on Sonic’s lap. It looked like they were outside somewhere, and the two were on a soft blanket laid on the ground. Martin’s diaper bag was next to them, and some of his toys were visible around them. Bobo was laying down behind them, a leaf on top of his head, the dog sleeping in the sun.
Way quickly punched in Pete’s credit card information on his Twitch settings so that he could make a donation, inputting a message that was then read aloud on North’s phone.
-
North screamed and dropped his phone as Twitch read out, ‘Why do you two have my baby???’
“Huh? What?” Sonic stopped in the middle of what he was saying to grab at the phone. Behind him, Bobo shot up and barked. “Oh my god! That was Way’s username! No! How did he find out?! He should be on his honeymoon! Not watching our stream!”
‘What do you mean no you clowns why do you have my child’
“Clowns?!” North echoed. “Oh, right, we filtered out swearing so our streams are safe for our younger fans. We have him ‘cuz-”
A different person sent a donation. ‘North and Sonic stole a baby lol’
“We didn’t steal him!” Sonic shrieked into the phone. Delighted by the volume and how he was being moved around as Sonic flailed a bit, Martin started laughing again.
‘You stole my baby? Give him back to Alan right now’
Both of them tried explaining at once that they had not stolen Martin from anyone, and that Alan had needed someone else to babysit after Jeff called him and said he needed to go to the garage.
‘We did NOT give him permission to do that why didn’t he give him to charlie??’
“Oh man, Mr. Pete is watching this too? Please don’t pull our funding…! Your kid is fine, see?” North scooted over and took Martin, wiggling him a little to prove that the toddler was indeed safe and happy with them. “All in one piece!”
Sonic could see their chat was going crazy with messages, most confused now as to what Way and funding and the name of one of their biggest sponsors had to do with the baby they’d introduced as their nephew. A few new fans were asking who Way was. “Way is one of the drivers from our team that recently retired and got married to our sponsor from Beyond Group. This is their baby. And they’re supposed to be on their honeymoon.”
‘If anything happens to him you know exactly what I’m going to do to you both’
They did not, in fact, know what Way would do them. North clung to Sonic’s arm both in fear and instinctively to protect him. Bobo shoved his face between them, trying to comfort them both as well. “P’Way…!” Sonic whined. Martin squirmed until he was turned around, then pulled himself up so he could pat at Sonic’s face, babbling at him. Sonic nuzzled him, cooing, “You are so cute.”
Noticing the dog, Martin forgot about Sonic and started to pat Bobo instead, making happy sounds and even making his own little barking noises. “Bok! Bok bok!” he shouted.
Bobo licked Martin, his whole tongue covering the baby’s face. Martin was quiet for a moment once Bobo had finished coating him in saliva, and North and Sonic thought he might cry, but then the toddler burst into laughter and reached to hug the dog’s large snout.
As Sonic found a wipe to clean up Martin in his diaper bag, Way sent another message.
‘GO BACK TO ALAN!!!!’
Sonic and North made a mutual silent decision to ignore Way. Martin was perfectly safe with them, literally being held securely on their laps, and they were going to prove that they could handle babysitting the sweet little toddler. There was nothing Pete or Way could do to stop them, so they continued on with the stream.
Until Bobo saw something across the park that caught his attention. The dog sprang up once again. North grabbed his leash, calling his name and saying to sit. Instead of sitting, Bobo lunged forward. North tried to hold tight to the leash, yelling, “Bobo, no!” But it was no use. Bobo, in what they would both think later was an amazing feat of agility considering his size but for now could only watch in horror, easily slipped his harness and took off after whatever he’d seen, tail wagging as he ran.
“Oh my god! Bobo!” North got up and ran after the dog. “Bobo, come here, boy! Come here!”
“Oh, man, Uncle is gonna kill us if we lose Bobo!” Sonic set Martin down on the blanket, and still clutching the phone, chased after them. “Bobo!”
-
“They left Martin,” Pete said, shocked.
“They left Martin!” Way wailed at the same time.
-
The phone was going off nonstop with donation messages, but North and Sonic didn’t hear them as they yelled for the dog, too focused on not losing Alan’s precious canine son, not even thinking about how while Alan would surely kill them for losing his dog, Way and Pete would be sure to kill them as well should any harm befall their son. Finally Bobo slowed down after multiple things caught his eye and they’d made multiple twists and turns through the park. North launched at the dog and wrapped his arms around him.
“Got you!”
“Finally! Thank goodness. Oh my god.” Sonic slowed to a halt, panting. North was breathing just as heavily. Bobo just stood there, perfectly fine, tongue hanging out and tail still wagging.
For just a moment, they relaxed. North got Bobo’s harness back on.
Then the phone said, ‘YOU IDIOTS LEFT MY BABY ALONE!! GO BACK!!! YOU LEFT MY BABY YOU LEFT MY BABY YOU L-’
It kept repeating it over and over until it hit the character limit, but Way quickly sent an identical message as soon as it ended. Sonic and North exchanged a horrified look, even more terrified than they had been when Bobo had first slipped his harness.
“Oh, fuck! We left the baby.”
Way continued to spam the stream with angry messages demanding they go back and find Martin and immediately bring him somewhere he’d actually be safe. He also demanded that they not shut off the stream until Martin was physically in the arms of someone who could be trusted not to lose him, because he didn’t trust them to do so and call to say they had. Sonic did his best to assure Way that they would be right back with the pup and would head straight to Alan’s house.
With the dog’s leash in hand and Bobo back to being a good boy that liked walking alongside whoever was minding him, they headed back towards the spot where they’d set up their little picnic.
“Which way did we come from?” North asked at a forked path.
“Uh… That way, I think.”
‘You lost my baby’
“No no no, Phi! We’re almost there!”
‘North just asked which way to go!! You’re lost!!!! The baby is ALONE’
North tried covering the phone with his hand. “Do you think P’Way is crying? I feel bad. I’m getting kind of freaked out now. The kid’s really little.”
‘I’m going to K-I-L-L you both’
Definitely a yes. Sonic made a choked off sound, feeling like he wanted to cry as well. North’s distress pheromones he was beginning to put out as it sunk in to the Omega that they’d potentially lost their nephew wasn’t helping Sonic at all.
Thankfully, they soon spotted a park feature that they remembered and were able to rush back from there to the spot. Sonic could have sobbed in relief when they saw the blanket with the diaper bag and toys on it, but he instead almost shrieked when there was no sign of their nephew.
“Where is he?! This is the spot!”
Bobo tugged on his leash and barked. There was an answering call back of, “Bok!”
They whipped around and could see Martin a little ways away, in the process of turning around from where he’d been wandering off. He started to toddle towards Bobo, making grabby hands and giggling.
“Martin!” North and Sonic both cried out, overjoyed to see their little nephew. North took the phone and aimed the camera towards the toddler as they headed towards him. “Found him! He’s fine!”
Martin promptly tripped over his own feet. The toddler face planted fairly hard, making them both wince. Sonic picked up the pace and rushed to the pup. Martin started pushing himself up with his chubby little arms and looked around, but then began wailing and flopped back onto the ground. Sonic lifted the boy up, brushing the dirt off of him. North caught up.
“Is he okay?”
There was no blood or broken skin. “He’s not hurt. Just a bit dirty.”
‘We are coming back right now’
-
North and Sonic got everything packed up and they took the dog and baby back to Alan’s house. On the drive back, North called Charlie to come help them babysit. The young Alpha immediately agreed and said he’d head right over. A few minutes after they got there, Charlie arrived, and North made a show of depositing the now fussy toddler into Charlie’s arms for the camera, then ended the stream.
“Oh, man. I hope that doesn’t get uploaded anywhere.” Neither of them wanted to go viral for almost losing a toddler on a Twitch stream.
An expert at handling the pup, when Sonic told him how Martin had tripped and hadn’t stopped fussing since, Charlie immediately knew what was wrong.
“Poor pup. You miss your papa, huh?” North chimed in with a, ‘Probably his mama too!’ that Sonic knew Charlie would ignore because he couldn’t bear to call someone other than Babe Mama, especially not Way, and he did. “I bet your parents give you lots of hugs and kisses whenever you tip over. Just like this-!” Charlie peppered the pup’s round cheeks with lots of little kisses and tickled his tummy until the pup was squealing with laughter.
Having gotten the doting upon he was waiting for, Martin went back to being a happy little pup.
Alan came back with food as promised, and Jeff. Charlie went back home after talking to his brother, and the four of them ate dinner, Martin getting his own food from the fridge that had been pre-prepped by his father. North and Sonic had never been more grateful that Alan and Jeff didn’t care for social media, and that Charlie had been too distracted by the pup and then Jeff to look at his phone before he left. After dinner they made a hasty exit, and Alan had no idea that the two of them had taken Martin out of the house.
-
It was really nice taking care of a baby, Alan thought. Martin was probably the best intro to young kids that he could get, energetic but sweet.
It would be good preparation for whenever Charlie and Babe had kids. Babe was a handful as an adult, and he was almost certain that Babe’s children would end up just like him. He and Jeff now had a solid foundation to fall back on for when they had to deal with their future nieces or nephews. It also helped warm Jeff up to the idea of kids, as his mate had been nervous about the idea of babysitting Martin when Alan first told him that they’d be doing so.
It would also potentially be the first step in warming Jeff up to the idea of their own kids someday, but for now, it was just getting him used to being an uncle.
He hadn’t meant to agree to something like that without discussing it with Jeff first, but he’d been so surprised when Way had visited him that he’d immediately said yes. And somehow also agreed to being the go-to babysitter for any future trips that Pete and Way took. It was possible that Way had used Martin to win him over. Having the toddler put into his arms had made it difficult to focus on anything that Way was saying. His little nephew was just too cute.
Martin had happily accepted being put in the bassinet for the night and fallen asleep easily after being read to, just as he had the night before. Alan and Jeff were once again able to sleep peacefully despite a toddler being in their bedroom.
Until the doorbell went off in the middle of the night, and Bobo started barking as he always did when someone was knocking on the door. Alan sat up in time to see Bobo leaving his large dog bed and running to go downstairs. Jeff grumbled and pulled the blanket over his head, mumbling at Alan for him to go see what was going on. There was no more barking as Alan reached his bedroom door, so Alan wondered if whoever had rung the bell had left. He was just about to go back to bed when he heard rapid footsteps coming up the stairs.
If North and Sonic had come into his house again when they knew he was babysitting, he was going to scold them. They were lucky that Martin was such a sound sleeper and that the bell and barking hadn’t made the toddler do much more than shift a bit and mumble in his sleep. Which honestly could have just been him reacting to some dream or trying to get a little more comfortable.
Still, it was the principle of the thing.
“North, Sonic, do you really have to show up in the middle of the night? You’re going to wake up-”
Way physically shoved past him to get into his bedroom. “Martin!” He went straight to the bassinet to lift up the pup.
“You guys are back early.” They weren’t supposed to be back for a few more days, and Alan was pretty sure they were supposed to arrive in the afternoon to pick up Martin, not in the middle of the night.
Pete stepped past him as well, just behind Way. He stroked the pup’s hair, ducking to kiss him. Martin woke up as he was lifted, and started to whine until he realized it was his parents who had disturbed his sleep. The pup cheered up, nuzzling against Way and holding onto Pete’s hand, purring.
Way checked over Martin, emotionally telling the pup, “You’re safe now, cub. We’ll never let you be in danger like that ever again. We’ve got you.” After making sure the pup was unharmed, Way hugged him, holding him tightly. “You’re okay now, I promise.”
Jeff sat up on the bed and gave Alan a confused look, which the Alpha returned.
Maybe Way had simply started freaking out about being separated from the pup. Alan was very happy to see that Way had taken so well to being a stepparent after being introduced to Pete’s son. It was the first time Way had been away from the pup for so long since Way had moved in with Pete, and Way was very attached to the child.
Since Pete loved Way very much and constantly spoiled him, it didn’t surprise Alan that Pete might indulge Way and cancel their honeymoon just to go home early at Way’s demand.
Alan clapped Way on the back. “He’s had a lot of fun! You guys didn’t need to cut things short. He’s a good kid.”
Way gave him a nasty glare that made Alan step back as though he’d been shoved. He stormed off with the baby, snapping back to Pete, “Get his things. We’ll be in the car.”
Pete dutifully grabbed Martin’s bag and the suitcase as demanded and followed them without saying a word to Alan.
“Uh… bye?”
Expecting that Pete would simply get the rest of Martin’s things from the living room and kitchen on his own, Alan got back in bed with Jeff. His mate settled in and closed his eyes, ready to go straight back to sleep. Alan laid there, wondering why Way had given him that look. He knew Way could give glares that looked like they could kill, and had comforted others (mainly North) after they’d gotten them, but he’d never been on the receiving end of one personally.
Way couldn’t have actually been mad at him, Alan silently assured himself. Surely Way had just been moody and lashing out. Perhaps his new paternal instincts had seen him as a sort of barrier to being able to get to his pup as quickly possible, or as a threat as Alan had interrupted when he was reuniting with the child.
Having figured that out, and proud of Way for developing his instincts and being so good with Martin, Alan was able to relax. He moved closer to Jeff, and the Omega shifted so his head was on the Alpha’s chest.
Yet again, footsteps woke him up. He turned on the light as someone entered the room, and could see Pete heading for the bassinet. For a moment, Alan thought it was bizarre that Pete had come in to find something without turning on the lights, but then realized that Pete’s senses were much better as an Enigma. He probably had decent night vision.
He went to ask Pete if he needed help finding anything, maybe a specific toy or something Martin might fuss over not having at home, but stopped when Pete just lifted up the entire little bassinet and started taking it out of the room.
“I thought that was for here,” Alan said. Pete had specifically told him that the bassinet could stay at his house for future babysitting. It was a smaller one, but still high quality, and could be easily stored or moved.
“It was,” Pete said, with an irritated and disappointed tone Alan had never heard from the calm businessman before, “-when Way and I thought you were responsible enough to look after our son. I’ll take this to Charlie’s the next time Martin needs a sitter.” As Pete spoke, his expression turned cold.
Pete left, and Alan was left absolutely bewildered.
“Alan, what did you do?” Jeff asked, totally shocked. “It sounds like he hates you! I didn’t think P’Pete could hate anyone.”
“I have no idea!”
He genuinely had no clue why Pete would be angry with him. Martin was fine. He’d been perfectly safe in the house and the pup even seemed to enjoy spending time with his uncles. There was no reason for either of his parents to be upset.
Alan flopped down, covering his face with his hands. “Oh, this is going to bother me until I figure out what’s wrong.”
“You can call Way tomorrow.”
-
Alan didn’t need to call Way the next day, as he immediately figured out why he’d been banned from babysitting as soon as he checked his phone the next morning and saw a bunch of texts from Charlie about some livestream North and Sonic had done when they were supposed to be babysitting Martin.
He clicked the link to a clip from it that Charlie had found and sent him, and stared wide-eyed with horror and realization at his screen as Sonic and North not only took Martin out of the house, but then promptly lost him.
Jeff glanced down at his phone, asking what was wrong.
“I’m going to kill North and Sonic.”
“Okay.”