Chapter Text
The elevator hummed to life as the two clamored in. Shining gold armor and green slime occupying the small space.
“Babysitting? Really Avery?" D3rLord3 grumbled, leaning against the railing of the elevator wall.
The other crossed his arms at the judgemental glare
“I thought it would be fun!” He pouted, “Y’know like…it's just a baby, shouldn’t be that high maintenance.” Avery mumbled, shifting on his feet.
The floor of the elevator trembled as it slowly ascended, the sound of a telephone sharply cutting through the air.
“This is Crown Childcare, the gold-standard in babysitting. You have ‘one’ new client message.”
A loud beep sliced through the small box before a female voice with a heavy British accent spoke.
“Hello I’d like to book a sitter for my Little Prince. It’s for three nights, you just need to feed him and put him to bed, easy peasy! His bottle’s in the fridge. The address is apartment 10, Euclidean Towers and the key’s under the plant pot. Take care, thanks!”
The message concluded as the elevator doors slid open with a mechanical whir. The hallway had an orange and red carpeted floor, wooden walls with a dull yellow painted above it.
“Leave it to apartments to have the shittiest design choices.” Avery joked, stepping out of the crammed space and already beginning to frolic through the halls in search of apartment 10.
“No kidding.” D3rLord3 muttered, boots clomping against the carpet as he began to follow Avery through the poorly decorated halls. A few of the apartments’ mail slots were crammed with untouched letters, others with black garbage bags outside their doors.
Turning left, the opposite way Avery decided to go, D3rLord3 spotted a small potted flower at the base of one of the doors. The number on the door unsurprisingly read ‘10’.
“Over here.” D3rLord3 called out, glancing over to see Avery already bounding his way over.
He shifted the plant pot over, grabbing the poorly hidden key just as the lady said over the phone. Adjusting the golden key in his gloved hand, he shoved it through the keyhole, twisting the lock open.
Avery dashed forward, twisting the knob and throwing the door open.
In the apartment, there was a dining table near the middle of the room. Sitting on a high chair facing the door, was a baby, dressed in yellow.
A smile spread across Avery’s face as he spotted the baby. He darted forward, patting the baby’s bald head within a second of seeing it.
“Look at it!” Avery squealed, “He’s adorable!” He squished the baby’s face with his hands.
D3rLord3 deadpanned, scowling under the helmet.
“That thing is horrifying.” D3rLord stated flatly, glaring at the baby’s large red eyes that held a look that was like it knew too much.
“What do you mean?! Look at it!” Avery exclaimed, taking the baby into his arms and holding it out towards D3rLord3.
“Get that thing away from me before it kills somebody.” D3rLord3 stepped back, gloved hands raised in a defensive gesture. He glanced down at the check list in his hand. “I’ll just grab its bottle.” D3rLord3 muttered, turning right to the kitchen.
He opened the turquoise fridge at the end of the room. The cold machinery held sliced onions, mushrooms and ham on the bottom shelf, tomatoes, cheese and pickles on the middle, and a neatly placed baby bottle on the very top.
D3rLord3 grasped the bottle in his hand, walking back outside the kitchen. Avery looked up at him from the living room, still holding the baby.
“Here.” D3rLord3 shoved the bottle into Avery’s green hand before already backing away from that demon child.
D3rLord3 watched as Avery put the bottle into the baby’s mouth until the whole thing was drained.
“D3r, it’s a baby, it’s not gonna kill you.” Avery laughed, placing the empty bottle on the nearby table.
“It looks like it has killed many before.” D3rLord3 stated, narrowing his shadowed eyes at the baby.
“You’re kinda strange y’know that?” Avery chuckled, still holding the baby in his arms.
A laugh left the baby’s mouth as Avery’s face scrunched up.
“It’s just shitted itself.” He coughed, holding the baby by its underarms.
“You’re dealing with that.” D3rLord3 said with a hint of humor to his voice, turning his heel and walking back towards the dining table.
Avery walked towards the bathrooms as D3rLord3 kneeled near the toy box at the end of the couch, looking through its contents.
Toy gun, plague doctor figurines, basketballs and other average children’s toys. He took out one of the small plague doctors, shutting the lid of the box. While placing the little figure on the wooden floor, he heard a gasp from where Avery was.
He shot up, head snapping in the direction of the bathroom, where Avery was darting out of.
“Did you see the baby? I turned around for 5 seconds and now he’s- oh!” Avery stammered out before his eyes locked onto something behind D3rLord3.
“There you are!” Avery exclaimed, dashing around D3rLord3 and to the base of the stairs.
D3rLord whipped around to where Avery now stood, holding the baby.
“Did you see him get by you?” Avery questioned, inspecting the baby in his slime arms.
“I didn’t see anything.” D3rLord3 murmured, glancing around the empty room.
Avery looked a bit on edge.
“That’s weird.” Avery muttered, tilting his head slightly. “It’s probably nothin’” He shrugged, after probably not a single thought, knowing him, before he headed back towards the bathroom.
D3rLord3 sighed at the other’s incompetence, making his way towards the staircase, deciding to explore the upstairs.
The upper part of the apartment was one long hallway, the first door was locked, the second opening up to some sort of laundry room and the third seemingly the baby’s room.
Pushing open the door, he was met with a dimly lit room with a cot to the left of the door and a chair to the left of that cot.
On the small table next to the chair, there was a storybook titled “The Prince and the Cat”
D3rLord3 turned around as he heard the clomp of footsteps behind him, Avery stepping into the room carrying the baby.
“You done snooping?” Avery asked jokingly, setting the baby down in the cot and plopping himself into the chair next to it.
“Just read the thing it’s story so I can get away from it.” D3rLord3 grumbled, shifting himself into the corner.
“Fine, fine.” Avery chuckled, grabbing the book off the table and opening to the first page.
“Across the shore, in distant lands, with dark stars overhead, The Prince was fast asleep until a cat jumped on his bed. ‘I’ve found a secret garden’, said the cat with much delight. Excitedly they ran outside, explorers of the night. They walked through the golden garden gate, look at the pretty trees! They walked along the pretty pebble path, look at the colorful flowers! They walked past the fabulous flowing fountain, look at the dancing water! Look, Look, Look! But the prince didn't like the garden, and started kicking down the trees. He dug up flowers, grabbed the hedges and pulled off all the leaves. He ruined everything for fun, the cat watched on in fear. ‘What a mistake I made’, the cat cried out, ‘I should never have brought him here’”
Avery put down the book, glancing at the sleeping baby to his right.
“Well that was…some children’s book alright.” He muttered, pushing himself out of the chair.
“Interesting choice indeed.” D3rLord muttered, already heading out the door. Avery quickly followed, softly shutting the door behind him.
“Why are you so afraid of a baby? It can’t do anything to you?” Avery questioned as they walked down the stairs, giving D3rLord3 a skeptical glare.
“It doesn’t feel right, I don't know why.” D3rLord3 spoke quietly, taking the last step down the staircase and now heading towards the couch.
“Whatever you say, weirdo.” Avery laughed, grabbing a basketball from the toy box and shooting it towards a nearby hoop nailed to the wall. The ball landed in the hoop perfectly, the scoreboard on it going up to 1.
D3rLord3 flopped onto the couch, laying his feet across the armrest.
He didn’t know what, but something was wrong with that baby.