Chapter Text
DAY 0
Kai Monteago was trying his hardest to look natural. He was a very cool, fun adult. He could totally be that! But Damon Maitsu was killing his vibe from looking so cold and mean.
"Stop that," he whispered to him. "We're going to be on TV soon. Do you really want everyone's first introduction to you being you, like, glaring at the TV?"
"We've already been recorded," he reminded him. "And we have those stupid microphones on our shirts right now. They can hear our conversation, so there isn't any point in whispering."
"Dude, at least try. You can't be tough in a literal playground, Damon."
Damon ignored him.
Okay, Kai could cut him some slack. It was technically his fault that Damon was suddenly being forced to participate in a reality television show. It wasn't even just any reality television show because this one was Parents X Together, a show where two or more famous adults, specifically adults who did not have children, took care of a baby for one hundred days. Kai had planned to do this with an influencer he had worked with before because that influencer really wanted to do this, but guess what? That influencer got sick and broke his leg—talk about bad luck—and told Kai he couldn't do it. Kai felt too bad about cancelling last minute, so he asked the first person he saw to help, who happened to be Damon.
"I figured I would be dragged into this anyway," was what Damon replied with.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"We're roommates. The baby is going to be in our dorm, so I probably had to help sooner or later."
Well, it wasn't like Kai would find a better option now, so at least Kai had someone to do it with.
The staff members of Parents X Together had already gotten Tozu's permission to record inside his school—from what Kai heard, they couldn't film Tozu or Mara themselves, but everyone else was fair game—and they had sent people to baby-proof Kai and Damon's dorm along with sending baby toys, baby food, baby clothes, and lots of diapers. They had also put cameras around Kai's and Damon's dorm so when the camera crew wasn't there, they could still get footage. The baby's parents were going to be staying at Eden's Garden Academy in case something happened to the baby, but for the most part, they were going to be apart from her, so they were only going to drop off one bag filled with a few more things the baby likes today. Then, their first official day of taking care of the baby would begin tomorrow on the first day of October.
The baby wasn't here, though. They didn't know anything about the baby other than the estimated age range, which was between one year old and two years old. Kai was dying to meet them, but they weren't here yet.
He was getting antsy, so Kai nudged Damon. "Damon, let's go play."
"What are you, five?" Damon asked.
He rolled his eyes. "We're going to be taking care of a literal baby, so, yes, Damon, we need to play. Come on, let's go play on the swings."
Kai had always loved the swings. He felt like he was flying when he swung high enough, and he could swing for hours back in the day. Nowadays, he didn't swing that often, since he wasn't around swings that often, but when Kai dragged Damon to them, he managed to swing high soon enough.
Damon hadn't started swinging, though, only sitting on the swing instead. Kai called out to him, "Don't you want to swing?"
"No," he said.
"Wow, you really do just hate fun..." If Kai's math was correct, one hundred days after October 1 was January 7. Thinking of the baby having to go that long with only one fun caretaker didn't sound that ideal, but again, it was too late to find anyone else.
Kai didn't know how long he was swinging for. Just like when he was a kid, he got lost in the feeling of being so high above the ground. Then, he heard Damon say, "The baby is here."
Kai immediately put his feet against the ground, trying to stop his swing as soon as possible. It took a moment, but when he could get off, he saw that Damon was already talking to the parents. He had already taken the bag from them, and, of course, the camera crew was already recording them.
Kai rushed over as calmly as he could. Instantly, he spotted the baby standing next to her parents. She was so small, the top of her head ending just a little below his knee, and her cheeks were so chubby. She was wearing a pretty pink ballerina outfit, her hair was styled in little pigtails, and she had a white pacifier in her mouth. While she was holding onto her mom's hand, she kept glancing to the playground.
Kai crouched down to her level. When she met his eyes, he smiled and said, "Hi! Do you want to go play?"
The baby let go of her mom's hand. She held up her arms, and she hugged Kai before Kai could realize what she wanted. Oh, God, she was tiny...
Kai looked up to Damon to point that out. Damon was already looking at him, and he spoke first. "She looks a lot like you."
"Really?" Kai pulled her back just to look at her. Yes, they had the exact same hair colour, the exact same eye colour, the exact same skin colour, the exact same nose, and a similar face shape—her eyes were more upturned than his, and her eyebrows were thicker and lower than his—but they didn't look that similar. "I don't really see what you're seeing. Anyway, what's her name?"
"Trinity," the baby's dad said. "She's fourteen months old."
She had barely been on this earth for three hundred sixty-five days. For some reason, that fact made Kai feel like he could die from cuteness.
Kai stood up. "Well, come on, Trinity, let's go play together."
Trinity reached for his hand. She had to use her entire hand to hold onto only one of Kai's fingers. She didn't hold onto his hand for long because the moment she saw the slide, she let go and rushed over to the stairs leading to the top of the slide. Trinity was trying really hard to climb up the stairs by herself, but she didn't seem to have good balance. Kai helped her up, and he climbed to the top too. He sat down with Trinity, and they slid to the bottom together. Kai clapped and cheered for her. Trinity beamed as she also applauded for herself.
"Wow, you have sharp fangs," Kai noticed. "Is that normal for a baby?"
Trinity got off the slide by herself. She headed towards the stairs again, and that was when Kai realized they would be playing here until the two of them and Damon were going home. Well, Kai was probably more annoying as a baby anyway, so this was fine.
DAY 1
Kai and Damon had agreed to put the baby crib in Kai's bedroom. Trinity was tired when they all returned to Eden's Garden Academy, and since it was getting late for a baby, Kai easily got her to change into pyjamas and put her to sleep. Morning had come now, making today officially Day One of taking care of Trinity!
Kai wanted to get up before her to make them breakfast, but he saw that Trinity was already awake. She was standing and looking around with one of her hands on the side of the crib. The other one held the pacifier that she had taken out by herself.
Kai crouched down so his face was on her level. He smiled when he saw her grin with all the teeth she had. He ruffled her short, messy hair that was already affected by bedhead. "Good morning, Trinity! I'll clean myself up, and then I'll clean you up, and then we'll start the day, okay?"
Trinity didn't look like she understood any of what he said, but Kai still hurried up for her. When he was ready for the day, and when Trinity was ready for the day as well, they headed into the dining hall. Trinity was all smiles as he got her ready, but when she sat down in the pink highchair, she seemed to realize that the place she was in wasn't familiar.
She held out her hand and looked around. "Mama?"
Kai thought about telling her that mama wasn't here, but he instead put a hand on his chest. "I'm Mama."
Trinity stared at him with her hand still in the air. She had an expression that said she clearly didn't believe him. It looked familiar, but Kai couldn't place why. He wondered what was going on in her mind until he noticed that she was pouting, and her eyes had gotten wider and shinier.
Kai's smile fell. "No, Trinity, don't cry..."
Trinity proceeded to start crying.
Kai hurriedly picked her up. He tried shushing her, but she wouldn't listen. God, Kai could barely even comfort people his age. How was he supposed to comfort a literal baby?
Okay, Kai was supposed to have help. Where was Damon?
He hadn't come out of his bedroom yet. Kai hurried inside it only to find it empty. He went back to the kitchen because maybe food would comfort Trinity, but then he saw a note on the fridge. It was from Damon. He had noticed that there was no more milk in their fridge, so he had gone out to buy some.
So he was by himself...
Trinity was still crying. Without any other idea, Kai began crying too. He made sure to cry louder than Trinity, and only when she stopped crying to look at him with confusion did he stop crying.
"Let's not cry first thing in the morning, okay?" he told her.
Trinity looked around like someone else was there, but the camera operators weren't there yet. She almost began crying again, but Kai was ready to cry again too. Eventually, she settled for resting her head on his shoulder.
Crisis averted, with none of Damon's help...
Kai spent the entire day with Trinity inside his room. He wanted her to feel comfortable in her new, temporary home. It wasn't a very interesting day for the camera crew when they showed up, but who cared? Kai was still getting paid, and Trinity definitely had fun running around with her toy shopping cart. She was running to the front door with her shopping cart when the door opened. Damon stepped inside. Trinity looked up at him, stepped back with her shopping cart, and ran with it in the opposite direction.
Kai stood in front of Damon. He waited for him to look up from taking off his shoes before Kai crossed his arms and demanded, "And where were you the entire day?"
"What time is it?" Damon asked.
"It's almost 7:00 P.M."
"Then Trinity needs to start getting ready for bed soon."
"Don't change the subject!" Kai said. "I didn't sign up to be a single dad. Where were you?"
Damon sighed. "I had bought some milk around ten minutes after I left, but when I was coming back, Cassidy found me and begged me to help her out, since she accidentally burnt down her dorm's kitchen, and she doesn't want Eloise to see the mess."
"Then how come I didn't hear any fire alarms?"
"Cassidy messed with it for a livestream, and she also messed up the pipes, so she had no water to clean it with. She then had the genius idea"—he rolled his eyes—"to take the milk I had just bought to clean the mess with. Obviously, it didn't work, and I was just sick of her at that point, so I told her to go ask Ingrid for help. I went out to buy milk again, but the store on campus that sells it ran out, so I needed to go farther out. Today, all the trains leading out of Eden's Garden were cancelled, so I thought maybe Jett has a car I could use, since he's the Ultimate Drag Racer."
"Oh, really?"
"Also because I overheard him talking about having a car. Jett wasn't at his dorm, but Mark was, so he drove me if I paid him $20. I didn't know that Mark didn't have a driver's license, though, until he almost got us into a car crash. No one got hurt, but the other driver spent a long time yelling at Mark, and when we could finally leave, Mark got us lost for a while. When we finally got to the nearest town, the grocery store there was closed for the day. I was done with Mark's driving, so we went back here. Eva saw us when we arrived, and when I told her why we were out, she said she had some extra milk she could give me, which would've been so helpful if I knew before," he muttered.
Kai scanned his face. Seeing not even a trace of a smile, he scoffed. "You couldn't even try to come up with a believable lie?"
"I'm not lying," Damon replied.
"You are! Do you really expect me to just believe that? You just want an excuse to be a deadbeat dad."
"Don't believe me if you don't want to, then." Damon stepped around him. Kai watched as he nonchalantly put the milk away and went to his bedroom as if nothing was wrong.
Trinity was putting small toys into her shopping cart. To think that Damon was really making Kai be the only one that took care of her... Well, at least this was being recorded, and everyone in the world would see how Damon really was.
DAY 2
Since Trinity now seemed comfortable in Kai's dorm, with the exception of Damon's bedroom, as she had never gone inside there, Kai figured it was time to take her outside. They weren't going to explore the entire campus, but maybe around their dorm building and a little bit of the outside area was enough.
Trinity was really happy to be outside. She had the biggest smile on her face as she ran down the hallway, screaming in lowercase. Since she wasn't fast, Kai and the camera operaters with them didn't bother trying to run up to her. But, since there was a considerable distance between them, Kai couldn't stop her when Trinity ran into Wolfgang.
With an "Oof!" Trinity fell over. She shakily got up and inspected her hands, not bothering to check who she ran into.
Kai, now next to her, asked, "You okay, Trinity?"
Trinity clapped her hands together. With that, she turned around in the opposite direction and continued screaming quietly to herself as she ran.
Kai now noticed Wolfgang's confused look, but there was a baby running away. "Sorry, Wolfgang, I gotta go. See ya!"
Kai made sure that this time, he was right next to Trinity, and he made sure he stopped her from running into anything and potentially hurting herself.
Trinity led them to the dorm's lounge on the ground floor. She seemed to want to take a break, so she sat down on the ground behind a chair. Kai sat on the chair.
Cassidy was just entering the building. She saw Kai and waved. While Kai waved back, Cassidy sat across from him.
"Hey, Kai," she said, "thank Damon for trying to help me out yesterday, okay? And tell him to tell me how much money that carton of milk cost. I swear on...on Eloise's life that I'll pay him back!" she decided to say.
"Milk?" Kai remembered the story Damon told him yesterday. "Wait, did you burn down your kitchen yesterday?"
Cassidy's smile became awkward. "Not fun, I know. Especially when I ruined the pipes and messed with the fire alarm. Eloise was not happy with me..."
Kai actually had wanted to believe Cassidy was smarter than that when Damon told him that story, but it seemed that Cassidy was actually dumber than he thought. Respectfully, of course.
"Anyway, yeah, tell him how much I should pay him back! Eloise is basically grounding me, so I have to go now before she finds out that I left our dorm..." Cassidy got up and walked around Kai's chair.
Kai was watching her leave until he felt a pat on his knee. Trinity had walked around the other way, and now that she had Kai's attention, she was lifting up both of her arms. Kai smiled and picked her up. Figuring that maybe they should get some fresh air, Kai left the dorm building with Trinity.
Just as he left, he heard Wolfgang call out Cassidy's name. Kai felt like he should stop and see what it was about because he was nosey like that, but too late, he was outside now. Time to continue walking.
Trinity did not like touching grass, apparently. She had to be coaxed into doing it by having Kai pick up blades of grass and have her hold onto them. Once she felt comfortable, she immediately began running. She tired herself out pretty fast, though, and she sat under a tree to rest. Kai moved behind the tree, planning to surprise her only to get surprised himself.
"Sorry, man," Jett said when Kai yelped in surprise, Mark standing behind Jett like usual. His voice made it clear that he found this amusing, though. "But do you know where Damon is? I'm paying him $20 on broskii's behalf for what happened yesterday."
"Damon paid Mark $20 to drive him to the nearest town," Kai said.
Jett nodded. "Yeah, and I feel like I have to pay him back now, since, no offence, but he expected someone who actually had their license..."
Mark tugged on his alligator toque as he muttered, "I didn't think he'd actually pay me $20."
Well, that was two parts of Damon's story being true. If Kai really wanted to know if Damon didn't lie to him last night, then he needed to get the final part from Eva.
"I think Damon is in the library," he told them. "And if you see him, tell him he's the Ultimate Debater, not the Ultimate Deadbeat Dad."
"No clue what that means, but I'll tell him that! Thanks, Kai!"
With that, Jett and Mark walked away. Kai peered behind the tree to see Trinity seeming to consider if eating the fistful of grass she had picked up was a good idea. Kai quickly pulled it away from her hands and picked her up.
Like with Cassidy, Kai heard Wolfgang again, this time calling out for Jett and Mark. Kai was a man on a mission right now, though, so he walked away without looking back.
Trinity wanted to keep walking around on her own, so Kai had to put her down. She wasn't running anymore, so there was at least that. She stopped walking, though, to sit on the ground. When Kai tried picking her up, she shook her head. Fortunately, they were near a coffee shop on campus, and through the windows, Kai could see Eva inside. Kai quickly told the camera crew to watch the baby before going inside.
"Hey, Eva!" Kai said as he approached her. She was sitting at a table by herself. Without waiting for a reply, he sat across from her. "Quick question—"
"No," she said without looking up from her laptop.
"I was just asking if Damon took some milk from you yesterday."
"Oh." She looked up. "He did..."
"'Kay, cool." Maybe Kai should apologize to Damon for thinking that he lied, but why would he do that? To Damon Maitsu? No, he could be silent.
"Do you need anything else?" she asked flatly.
Kai remembered that he left a baby outside. "Nope! Bye, Eva!"
Kai left the coffee shop. Trinity was still where he left her. This time, she let him pick her up.
"Let's go home," he told her as she rested her head on his shoulder.
For the third time that day, Kai heard Wolfgang calling out the name of the person he was just talking to. Trinity seemed to be getting tired, though, so he had no time to stop and be nosy.
Kai tried bathing Trinity, but she had too much fun sitting in the water and making splashes by hitting her hands against the water to really bathe her that well. That was probably not ideal for filming, since filming the babies so vulnerable was not allowed, but Kai was more concerned with how she made his shirt get wet. After she was dried and changed into pyjamas, he changed into dry, comfortable clothes. He joined her in playing in the living room, and he planned to do this for a little longer before getting her ready for bed.
Then, there was a knock on the front door. Kai let her build her tower of blocks by herself to go open the door. He frowned when he saw everyone in their class except for him and Damon waiting outside.
"Excuse us," Wolfgang said before leading everyone inside. Kai was forced to move to the side as his brain tried catching up.
Trinity looked up at the sudden company. She was so confused as she looked around. Her gaze locked onto Wolfgang as he proudly declared, "I told you all that Kai had a daughter!"
Grace huffed. "Well, sh—"
"Hey," Ingrid interrupted sharply. "Mind your language. There is a baby here."
"My bad," Grace said, not sounding like she cared.
Kai was still standing next to the open front door. He quickly closed it and tried getting closer to Trinity. Diana and Toshiko were already sitting next to her, both cooing at her cuteness. Diana was gently squishing her chubby cheeks.
Kai sighed. "Okay, why is everyone in here?"
Ulysses answered him. "Wolfgang was running around and telling everyone you had a baby. No one believed him, so he took us all here to prove it."
"But aren't you eighteen?" Mark asked him. "That baby has to be at least a year old..."
Kai sighed again. He quickly explained that he had to do this for Parents X Together, and he explained what the show wanted him to do.
"I mean," he was saying, "did none of you notice the camera crew in here?"
"The baby is a little distracting," Wenona said, which was a fair point.
Just then, Damon left his bedroom. Kai didn't even know that he was there, but when he saw his confused look, he explained what happened.
Damon's response was, "Why didn't you tell them about the show?"
"What do you mean?"
"You didn't tell any of them about the show before, right?"
"No... I mean, I told you," he quickly added. "You're literally my roommate, so you'd obviously see Trinity a lot."
"And you didn't think anyone else would see or notice her?"
Kai hesitated, which seemed to be enough of an answer for Damon, who only sighed. Kai wanted to quickly change the subject, which he could when he heard Trinity laughing. Jean was throwing her up too high and catching her with ease.
Kai rushed over. "Jean, put her down!"
"She's having fun!" Jean said through his own laughter.
That was right, and it was nice to see her smile and laugh, but with how high up she was from the ground...
"It's almost her bedtime," Damon said. "She goes to sleep at 8:00 P.M., but she starts getting ready for bed at 7:30 P.M. You might excite her so much that she won't want to sleep."
Kai had no idea that Trinity's bedtime was 8:00 P.M. Now that he thought about it, she did coincidentally fall asleep around 8:00 P.M. At least he knew now, and at least Jean agreed to put her on the ground. He gave her a pitying look when Trinity held up her arms for Jean to carry her again.
Since it was almost her bedtime, Kai told everyone, "If you really want to play with Trinity, come back tomorrow. Or the day after. She's here for one hundred days, so come anytime during that. But right now, she needs to start getting ready for bed."
And then suddenly, almost everyone wanted to say goodbye to her. Trinity had never smiled so much.
"Maybe she really is your daughter," Damon told Kai. "She likes attention like you."
"She's not my daughter," Kai corrected once again.
Damon didn't reply, and he went back to his bedroom. Kai was once again left to take care of Trinity by himself again.
DAY 3
Trinity had woken up after a few camera operators had arrived. She suddenly became very interested in the cameras. Kai held her up so she could inspect one more. She reached her hand towards the lens. She then suddenly got shy, burying her face into Kai's shoulder and excitedly kicking her feet.
"Do you like being on the cameras, Trinity?" Kai asked her, patting her back. "Then maybe everyone was right about you being my daughter."
Thinking about that, when Trinity lifted her head, Kai told her, "Trinity, wink!"
Kai winked. Trinity stared at him really hard, then blinked really hard with both eyes. Kai cheered for her, and she began giggling.
He was going to the bathroom and was about to brush her teeth when someone knocked on the front door. Diana and Eva were outside, the former looking considerably more awake than the other.
Diana gasped and smiled. Her voice immediately became higher and had more emotion in it. "Hi, Trinity! Oh, my God, you look so cute!"
Trinity was smiling at the compliments. She happily let Diana take her from Kai.
Eva's eyes catch Trinity. A small smirk comes onto her face. "She has Damon's bedhead."
"Damon's bedhead?" Kai had literally been Damon's roommate for over a month now, but he hadn't seen him with bedhead before. "How do you know this?"
"Damon got me extra keys to your guys' dorm—"
"He what?" How did Kai not know about this? Well, now that he thought about it, he did sometimes see Eva in their dorm at weird, random hours, but he just thought Damon let her in, not that Eva let herself in!
Eva continued talking as if he hadn't spoken. "I sometimes come early enough to see him with bedhead. It looks like Trinity's."
A part of Kai wanted to go check, since he knew that Damon was still asleep. But having some time to himself sounded nice, so since Diana was here, obviously obsessing over Trinity, he told her, "If you guys wanna stay so much, then can you brush her hair and her teeth?"
"She needs her little teeth brushed?" Diana tried to get a better look at her teeth, but when she tried opening her mouth, Trinity stuck out her tongue. That left both of them laughing.
"Yeah, so while you're obsessing over her, brush her teeth for me. Her hairbrush is in my bedroom on my vanity—it's pretty small, so you'll know it's for her—and her toothbrush is the small one in the bathroom. I'll make her breakfast."
"Got it! Come on, Eva!" Diana forced her to come inside with her.
Kai was just going to have her eat some strawberries and cereal. He thought Eva was going to follow Diana, but she had followed him into the kitchen. Weird, but whatever.
"Hey, Kai?" Eva began as Kai began washing strawberries.
"Yeah?"
"Has Damon ever helped out with the baby? I know it's only the third day, but I don't see him around the baby that much."
"No," he huffed. "He doesn't do anything with her."
"So he's an absentee father."
"Basically..."
Kai could hear her chuckle as she left. He knew that Eva sometimes teased Damon, and actually? He hoped that she held this over his head!
Kai finished making Trinity's breakfast soon. A while later, Diana came with Trinity, who now had no bedhead. Kai saw the way Diana's eyes locked onto Trinity's breakfast, so Kai told her, "You can feed her. And actually, you can have her for the entire day."
"I can babysit her?" she exclaimed, her eyes brightening.
"Yup, if you're okay with cameras following you around. I'll give you some snacks and diapers in case you need them. Just bring her back at 7:00 P.M., 7:15 P.M. latest."
She nodded. "Me and Eva will take very good care of her!"
Eva looked confused, but Kai ignored her. He went to his bedroom, and he immediately went back to sleep.
Kai woke up in the afternoon. When he left his bedroom, he saw that Damon was in the living room on his laptop. Kai didn't realize he had been staring at him until Damon looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
He spoke before he could process his words. "Do you know where Trinity is?"
His eyes went back to his laptop. "Eva said you let Diana babysit her for the day."
He stared at him for a moment longer before scoffing. "She's already doing more work than you are."
"Good for her."
"Why did you even agree to take care of a baby if you weren't even going to take care of her at all?"
"You're always taking care of her."
"Because you're not!"
Suddenly, Kai felt like he was a middle-aged mother who wasn't in love with her husband anymore, but she agreed to have a child with him because she thought it would fix their marriage.
Kai was not going to be annoyed by Damon Maitsu right now...
Diana returned Trinity exactly at 7:00 P.M. Since there was some time before bedtime, Kai told Damon, "Come play with Trinity."
Damon went to join Kai and Trinity in the living room. Kai smiled as Trinity used her toy shopping cart to hand him smaller toys, but he sees that Damon only watches Trinity play. He responded if she interacted with him, like helping her readjust where she was heading if she ran into him, but he didn't interact with her first like Kai was.
Kai sighed. "Damon, are you even trying?"
Damon glanced at Trinity. "I'm trying hard enough."
If Kai knew how excited Diana would be at seeing a baby, he would have asked her to join him on Parents X Together. It was too late now, but if he could change his mind...
DAY 4
Trinity was being frustrating this morning. She was standing on the ground, which made her angry expression a little comical, but, God, she wasn't easy to deal with right now. She couldn't even speak, but she was yelling at him.
"Do not raise your voice at me, little miss," Kai scolded. "I am your elder, and you will respect me."
She tried stomping her foot. She almost fell over doing so.
"And we do not get violent here. You should not even have the audacity to be getting angry with me! You don't even know your ABCs!"
Based on her widened eyes, that had struck a nerve with her. Kai began singing the ABCs just to prove his point, which made her start screaming.
"Both of you, shut up!" Damon shouted when he entered Kai's bedroom. "It's not even 10:00 A.M. and you're both already so loud!"
Trinity ran to Damon, crying. Damon didn't pick her up when she hugged his legs, awkwardly patting her head instead. His gaze was on Kai. "What happened?"
"Trinity doesn't want to wear the outfit I had planned for her, but it's so cute!" Kai showed him the clothes. It was a pink t-shirt with a red heart on it, a cute pink skirt, and white tights. There was a cute bow that matched the outfit, but no, Trinity didn't want to look cute apparently!
Kai threw the clothes onto the bed. "You know what, Damon? You can deal with this! Be an active father for once in your life!"
Kai left the bedroom. He expected to have around half an hour to himself now that Damon wasn't there, but instead, he had less than ten minutes of alone time before Damon came out of Kai's bedroom with Trinity walking beside him, holding his hand with her pacifier in her mouth. He was about to question how he took such a short time when he noticed Trinity's clothes.
"Why is she wearing a monkey costume?" Kai asked.
"She wanted to wear it," he said simply. "I calmed her down and showed her different clothes she wanted to wear."
"A monkey costume..." Kai could see a camera operator filming them from the corner of his eye. Everyone was going to see Trinity wearing stupid clothes...
"She's changed now at least." Damon glanced at Trinity when she let go of his hand and walked towards her toys. His gaze then returned to Kai. "Are you going to make her breakfast, or should I?"
"Are you looking for an excuse to leave?"
"Well, I have to meet Eva—"
"God, whatever, just go..."
Damon's brows furrowed, but ultimately, he left. Kai took a deep breath. With an apologetic smile, he went to Trinity and crouched to her level.
When he had her attention, he said, "I'm sorry for getting mad and yelling at you earlier."
Trinity accepted Kai's apology by giving him a hug.
Kai really felt like a mother stuck in an unhappy marriage with a lazy husband when he found himself going online for help while Trinity was asleep on his lap. The advice probably didn't directly affect him, but whatever, it was the best he had. It was him and all the actual mothers against the world.
Kai kept scrolling through so many different posts asking for advice for hours until Trinity woke up. All Kai had by the end of it was that the answer to his situation, and specifically his situation, would be to make Damon spend time with Trinity. Looking at Trinity's groggy face slowly start remembering where she was, Kai wondered how much he actually trusted Damon to be alone with her. But, hey, Damon managed to calm her down and get her changed in less than ten minutes. That might mean something.
And Kai would probably have to trust Damon with being alone with Trinity for an extended amount of time. He had asked him to take care of her for a reason. And he knew that the camera operators would step in if something dangerous were to happen to the people being filmed, especially if the child was in harm's way. If he couldn't trust Damon, then he could at least trust them.
Kai smiled at the thought of having a full day to himself tomorrow.
DAY 5
Kai had woken up a little before the time Trinity usually woke up. Careful not to wake up the sleeping baby, Kai went straight to Damon's bedroom. Damon was still asleep. He opened the curtains, and almost immediately, he heard Damon groan.
"Wake up, Damon," he said. "You're doing something important today."
"Right now?" he grumbled with an arm covering his eyes from the sunlight.
"Yes, right now."
He sighed. "Give me a minute..."
Kai remained standing where he was as he gave him that minute to get up. When Damon did sit up, Kai immediately noticed his messy hair. He was reminded of what Eva said. He was going to bring Damon to Trinity anyway, but he would like to see them side by side now.
When Kai dragged Damon to his bedroom, Trinity was awake. She stood up in her crib when she saw Kai. Now that he could see Damon and Trinity next to each other, both having just woken up, Kai could see that, yes, they did have the same sort of bedhead. It was cute, but Kai had other things to focus on.
"You two are going to spend the entire day together," he announced. "I'll be out hanging out with friends, so you, Damon, need to take care of her. I swear to God, Damon, I'm already tired of you avoiding her, so if this happens for ninety-five more days, I'm literally going to snap."
Damon and Trinity stared at each other. Neither seemed to know what to do with the other.
"I'm going to get ready," Kai said, "and then I'm off. I won't be back until 9:00 P.M., okay?"
"Alright," Damon agreed, still staring at Trinity.
Kai didn't turn around as he left the bedroom. He tried to relax, but he still turned to the nearest camera operator and gestured to come closer. He whispered, "Can you send me whatever videos or whatever you guys take of Damon and Trinity when I come home?"
The camera operator nodded. Only with that confirmation did Kai feel comfortable going to the bathroom and begin his day.
Kai was having a lot of fun with his friends. So much fun! He was very fun! Video games were fun!
"Kai, my man," Cassidy said as she put a hand on his shoulder, "just go home and check on your daughter."
Kai was hanging out with Cassidy and, after convincing her that they wouldn't annoy her—and, of course, she just had to ignore the camera operator following Kai—Eloise in Cassidy and Eloise's dorm. Eloise was watching the other two play video games. Obviously, Cassidy was going to keep winning when she was literally the Ultimate Pro Gamer, but Kai was apparently really distracted. But he wasn't! He wasn't even thinking about Trinity and Damon!
"Trinity isn't my daughter," he corrected.
"He won't go home anyway," Eloise told Cassidy. "He said he isn't going back until 9:00 P.M. It's barely noon."
"Exactly!" But maybe Kai could go home at, like, 8:30 P.M., since he only chose to go home at 9:00 P.M. so Damon couldn't make him put Trinity to bed. Or maybe he could go fifteen minutes earlier...
"Okay, you probably need to be distracted more." Cassidy searched for her phone. When she found it on the nightstand, she asked, "Okay, who am I inviting?"
"Anyone who yells a lot," Eloise muttered.
"Good idea! But who would that be?"
Eloise shrugged. "I'm with two of them right now..."
Cassidy invited a ton of people to come over. Some of them ended up being people Kai had never met or spoken to before. They were definitely all loud, which did make Kai feel a little easier. His thoughts did go back to Damon and Trinity, though...
Kai was waiting outside his dorm's front door. It was 7:59 P.M. The moment it hit 8:00 P.M., Kai immediately went inside. He immediately noticed that the living room was cleaner. The toys were neatly organized, ready for Trinity to easily find and play with them tomorrow.
Kai went to Damon's bedroom to find it empty. He went to his bedroom to see Damon sitting on a chair that he had brought over next to Trinity's crib. Damon was reading a book, and Trinity was asleep.
"Isn't her bedtime 8:00 P.M.?" Kai asked.
Damon looked up. "She fell asleep around ten minutes earlier."
"Huh..." Kai quietly stepped closer to Trinity. It didn't look like anything was wrong. "Was it hard taking care of her or...?"
"No. She's pretty easy to take care of." Damon closed his book. "Should I leave now?"
"I guess, yeah..."
Damon left. A few minutes later, the camera operator that Kai had spoken to in the morning came in and told Kai the video of what was filmed of Damon and Trinity was sent to Kai's work email. It was unedited, since editing of the filming wouldn't start until a little later, so it was really long. Kai thanked the camera operator as he opened his laptop.
At first, after Kai left, Damon and Trinity continued staring at each other. Both of them looked lost. Suddenly, Damon seemed to realize that it was the morning, so Trinity needed to get ready. When he tried to pick her up, Trinity shook her head. Damon left the bedroom. When he came back, he had his phone with him. After scrolling for a little, he started playing a song. It sounded pretty. After hearing it, Trinity was willing to be picked up.
Damon had put the song on loop to help change Trinity's diaper, brush her teeth, and brush her hair. He had paused the song to help her change into different clothes. He showed her different clothes, and when Trinity applauded for one, that was what he put on her. With her picks, she was wearing a onesie with a big bow that didn't match.
Damon carried her to the kitchen. He sat her down on the countertop. He brushed her hair out of her face as he asked, "Do you want to eat pancakes or something?"
Trinity tried putting a fist into her mouth.
"Right, you can't talk..." He sighed. "Right, well... Let's just make pancakes... I think you like them. But they'll have to be small for you..."
Damon was the one making pancakes, but Trinity had also "helped." By that, she was doing things like barely stirring the pancake batter and trying to eat things that she shouldn't. Damon fixed all of her mistakes, but Trinity still smiled like she did a lot of work. And Damon was treating her like she had.
"So helpful," Damon said when she handed him a bowl. His voice didn't sound condescending at all, so in the case of Damon Maitsu, Kai was pretty sure this was one of the highest praises he had ever given anyone.
Trinity ate her mini-pancakes with her own hands, since apparently, forks were overrated. When she was allowed off the high chair and was put onto the ground, she grabbed onto Damon's fingers and led him to the toys. Kai let the video keep playing as he went to Damon's bedroom. He opened without knocking.
Damon was getting into bed. Kai said almost immediately, "What was that song you were playing for Trinity?"
"What?"
"I was watching what was filmed—"
"You can do that?"
"Just ask for it. But what song were you playing?"
"'Glue Song.'"
"What song?"
Damon showed it to him on his phone. It indeed was called 'Glue Song.'
"Trinity's parents said she really likes it," Damon added. "Just playing it can make her get in a better mood."
"When did you learn that?"
"While you were playing with Trinity when we first met her, I was getting some tips from her parents." Of course, he sounded a bit smug.
"How come you never told me this?"
"I was busy, you kept taking Trinity, we didn't have much time to talk to each other—"
"Whatever." Kai left. He almost forgot to close the door, but he remembered just in time.
Back in his bedroom, Kai found that the video was currently showing Trinity sitting on Damon's lap. She had a book for children in her hands, and she was flipping through the pages herself. She was speaking, but the random words she was stringing together were very obviously not in the story.
"There isn't any point in having a book if you can't even read," Damon said a little teasingly, but ultimately, his voice was soft and patient, much different from how his voice usually was.
Kai realized he wasn't breathing. He forced himself to breathe, and he forced himself not to focus on how soft Damon's current expression was.
His eyes kept going back to Damon's face, though. Eventually, Kai turned off his laptop. It was getting late. He could watch it tomorrow with a fresh mind anyway.