2020-02-23 13:38![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
threedimensions
threedimensionsDimensions: [1-2-3]
Timeline: Spring 2007
Title: Babysit
Summary: Terry is surprised to find several small children in Brandon's room when he goes up to see him. He is further surprised when he is left with the children, "in charge".
~3.3k
Terry was a little surprised to find that his new boyfriend's bedroom had been taken over by half a preschool.
Okay, so he didn't know how many tiny kids a preschool class generally held, but the part about being surprised to see a kid about kindergarten age, a toddler girl, and a baby all laughing and playing up in Brandon's room was still true.
"Hey," he said uncertainly, looking around as if he might suddenly remember having gone into the wrong house.
"Hey," Brandon greeted from the floor by the foot of his bed, and Terry stepped forward to see him on his hands and knees and reaching for something. "Sammie threw a toy under here," he explained to Terry's questioning look.
"Oh. Um..." Terry gestured to the older boy and the girl, who were now staring at him. "What's with the diaper crew?"
"I am not a baby!" the girl yelled. Terry put both of his hands up, I surrender, and took a step backwards. She looked satisfied.
Brandon laughed and then he finally sat up with something pink and purple in his hands. "Here ya go," he said, tossing it gently underhand so that it landed a few feet in front of the little girl. "Don't throw it again, okay? We don't throw toys, especially inside."
"Okay," she sighed heavily, as if he had informed her she wasn't allowed to watch cartoons in the house. Terry decided not to ask if the toss fell into the 'throwing toys inside' category or not.
"These are my brothers and sister; I told you about them," Brandon said to Terry, gesturing to the children. He pointed to the bigger boy, the girl, and then the baby. "Shane, Sammie, and Shawn. Shane's five, Sammie's three, and Shawn's thirteen months. Their mom's gonna come get 'em in about an hour and a half, then we can go."
"Go where?" Sammie asked, perking up.
"You're gonna go home with Mommy." Brandon's cell phone on the edge of his computer desk began to ring, and Shane, who was sitting in the chair and swinging his feet, reached for it. Terry expected Brandon to go get it, or at least tell the little boy to put it down, but he watched as Shane turned it around and tried to read the display.
"Kuh...why...ell...en. Ky...ell...Kylen!" Shane looked up and grinned.
"Sure is." Brandon grinned back. "You want to answer it for me?"
"Kay. Hello, this is Shane," he almost sang as he flipped the phone open. He listened for a second, then held it out to Brandon. "She needs you."
Brandon got up and went over to take the phone from Shane while Terry continued to stand uncomfortably just inside the door. He wasn't afraid of little kids, exactly, he just had no idea what to do with them, or how to behave around them. He wasn't sure if they knew about their brother dating him—or even being gay— wasn't sure if that was a secret he wasn't supposed to clue them in on, let alone anything about limitations on swearing or whatever else might be considered inappropriate. The older boy was watching Brandon on the phone, the girl was sitting on the floor staring at the TV (which Terry could hear had some tinkly music and cartoony voices singing something), and the baby, who could walk, seemed to be having a ball chasing a bright green plastic cup with two handles and a spout on the lid, that his clumsy feet were continually kicking away from him.
"I'll call you right back." Brandon took the phone away from his ear and looked at the kids, frowning slightly.
"What?" Terry asked.
Brandon gestured with his phone. "My friend Kylen missed her bus; she needs a ride home or she'll be stranded until midnight or have to walk home, and it's like, ten miles. I can go get her and take her home, but..." He motioned to the kids. "My dad's got their car seats in his car. I can't take them anywhere without them. They've got to stay here, and they're too little to leave by themselves. You said you don't have a license?"
Terry shook his head. "My dad said he's not buying me a car, so a license would be pretty pointless."
"Can you stay here with these guys for a little bit?"
Terry stared at him.
Brandon grinned. "It's not hard—they're good kids—and it won't be long. Please? I can't take them, and she really needs a ride. She knew you were coming over and already tried a bunch of others and said they either didn't answer or can't get her right now."
"Uhh...okay?" Terry looked around again, as if still lost. He shrugged. "What am I, like...supposed to do?"
"Just sit with them. They don't really need anything," Brandon glanced at each kid in turn, thinking. "They had a snack a little bit ago, Very Veggie Fantasty Fruit Hour or whatever is on, and they've got some toys. Shane will help, too, won't you buddy?" Brandon turned to his little brother and ruffled his hair.
"Sure." Shane grinned.
"I should be back within an hour. Probably only forty-five minutes or so." Brandon was rummaging on his desk for his keys. "My dad's number at the hospital is downstairs on the fridge if anything happens. Their mom's cell phone number is also down there, I think, and Shane has it memorized if it's not."
"Seven-eight-zeeroh-four-six-five-four-three-three-five," Shane chanted dutifully.
"My dad took my phone," Terry said.
"Oh. Well, take mine, just in case." Brandon offered it to Terry. "I can use Kylen's to call and check how you are when I get her. Their mom's number's in there—Lynn Claywell. I'll be with Kylen Tyler. You could also call my friend Mark—Mark Allgeyer—if anything happens, these guys know him. I'm pretty sure he wasn't working tonight."
"Um...yeah, okay." Terry took it, still unsure. He glanced back at Shawn, who was sitting down and happily sucking away at the top of his Sippy Cup. "What about the baby?"
Brandon shrugged again. "He shouldn't need anything. He doesn't get a bottle anymore, and when that juice is gone he'll be good until he gets home. Like I said, they got the cartoons and that basket is some toys."
"Um...okay."
Brandon snapped his fingers twice and all three kids looked at him. "I gotta go bye for just a little bit, kay? I'll be back before Mommy comes to get you. This is Terry," he said, pointing. "He's gonna stay here while I'm gone. He's in charge. Okay?" Brandon looked at Sammie. "No screaming," he told her seriously. "Can you guys be good while I'm gone?"
"Okay," Shane said, starting to twist and kick his feet in the computer chair again.
"Kay," Sammie said, turning back to her program.
"Joo?" Shawn held out his cup.
"Juice all gone?" Brandon asked.
"No." He stuck the spout back into his mouth, and they could hear the last dribbles bubbling.
"Good boy, okay?" Brandon asked him. "Bye-bye."
Shawn grinned. "Bye-bye."
"I'll call you from Kylen's phone in about fifteen minutes," Brandon promised Terry.
"Okay." Terry wasn't looking at Brandon now, but each of the children in turn. Shawn was still working his now clearly empty cup, Sammie was fixed to the TV, and Shane was still swinging from left to right in the chair but watching his brother. Brandon put his hand on Terry's shoulder as he headed out the door. Except for what sounded to Terry like woodchucks on a helium overdose playing the musical appendectomy from the television, it was quiet.
Terry became aware he was still just standing in the middle of the room, so he slowly walked over to the sofa and sat down. Shawn and Sammie were both on the rug in front of him and occupied, but Terry noticed the other little boy now watching him. "Hi," he said after a moment.
"Hi," Shane replied. Back and forth went the chair, back and forth went his body, but his head stayed stationary so that he could continue staring. "Are you Brandon's boyfriend?" he asked suddenly.
Terry blinked. So much for it not being uncomfortable. "Umm...are—are you supposed to know about that?"
"About what?"
"About...that, I guess."
Shane didn't stop spinning the chair halfway to the left, halfway to the right. "That what? That he goes on dates?"
"Well..."
"That he goes on dates with other boys?"
"Um…that'd be it."
"Yeah, I know," Shane said nonchalantly, still spinning. "My mom doesn't like it, but Dad says Brandon takes better care of us than he does. Most of the girls she gets to babysit us have boyfriends too, so it's the same." He shrugged again. "So are you?"
"Yeah, I guess."
Shane nodded. "I heard him telling Mark and Kylen and Luke and some of the others about you at Eddie's. He really likes you."
"Brandon takes you there?" Terry was surprised. He wouldn't have thought the basement hangout full of teenagers blasting rock music, making out, and smoking weed would have been appropriate for a five-year-old.
"Sure. He takes me lots of places." Shane grinned proudly. "He did ever since I was born."
"Oh. That's...nice," Terry said, unsure of where to go from there.
"Over," Sammie suddenly sang, whirling around and looking expectantly at Terry. He glanced at the TV and saw credits rolling.
"Okay...what do you want to do now?"
"Play puppies!" she shrieked, jumping up and running to the toy basket Brandon had indicated, dumping out the entire contents and coming up with several very small stuffed dogs.
"Whoa!" Terry winced. "Brandon said no screaming, okay?"
"I not screaming, I happy!" she corrected.
"Oh. Um, okay then."
"You play puppies too!" she thrust an armful of floppy ears and tails into his arms.
"Oh, um...?"
"Arf, arf! Arf, arf, arf!" Sammie held a dog a few inches above the floor and made it walk.
"Arr arr!" Shawn imitated, delighted.
Sammie giggled. "Shawny silly," she sang.
Terry relaxed. Shane seemed content to stay in Brandon's chair and just watch everyone while Sammie busied herself with the stuffed animals and Shawn watched her, occasionally reaching for one of the animals she'd toss aside in favor of the next. These kids seem pretty okay, he thought. They were calm and playful, and none of them had seemed to want to fight with each other or refuse to do what they were told. Not that he was telling them to do anything.
Brandon's phone started ringing, and Terry jumped. Shane was already holding it out to him. "Thanks." He stood up and reached for it, checked that it said KYLEN, with a picture of a blonde girl giving the finger, and held it to his ear. "Hello?"
"Hey, it's me. Everything okay?"
"Uhh, yeah, I guess." Terry eyed the two younger children. Sammie was causing a doggie to climb up Shawn's leg, his arm, and up to his head where she made pig-like snorting sounds to indicate it sniffing his ear. He giggled and fell over, then sneezed. "I mean, like, no one's crying or anything. They're playing with toys right now."
"Awesome," Brandon said, sounding relieved. "I'll be back in, like, twenty minutes."
"Okay. Bye." Terry set the phone back down on the desk and resumed his seat on the sofa. Shawn had gotten up from the floor and was slowly taking deliberate steps over to him. "Hi kiddo," Terry said. Shawn looked at him, then seemed to slap his own hips twice. Terry frowned a little, confused. "What's up?" he tried again. Shawn did the same thing.
"He needs his diaper changed," Shane spoke up.
"Oh, yeah? Is that what he does when...?"
"That's sign language. Brandon taught some to us when we were babies since we can't talk very well when we're that little," Shane explained. "He can say, 'I love you', 'thank you', ask for juice or a cracker, and a few other things. Diaper change is one of them, and that's it. The bag is over here."
"Oh. Uhh...I don't..." Terry looked around helplessly.
"You don't know how to change a diaper?"
"No? I never really needed to. My sister's only a couple of years younger than me."
Shane slid off the chair, grabbed the strap of a dark blue mini-duffel bag, and dragged it over to the sofa. "I can do it."
"Oh. Okay."
"C'mere Shawny," Shane said, kneeling on the floor and unzipping the bag. He came up with a diaper and a box of wipes. Shawn came over and put both arms around Shane's neck and hugged him. Shane grinned and hugged him back, then helped him sit down and lay back. "Hold still," he cautioned, then started to wiggle his brother's sweatpants off and pull loose the adhesive tapes on the diaper he was wearing. "Just pee," he announced, carefully pulling it out from under the baby and folding it, then clumsily taping it closed. Shane got out a wipe and carefully cleaned the entire diaper area while Shawn opened and closed the clean diaper, then he gently tugged the new diaper away from Shawn.
It took a couple of tries for him to be able to hold Shawn's legs up and slide the diaper underneath him, but eventually he got his brother centered and taped it securely on him. He got the pants wiggled back up on him, then reached for his hands and helped him stand up again. Shane held both of his open hands with his palms facing himself, then turned them to face Shawn. "All done!" He grinned. Shawn grinned back at him and gave Shane two high-fives with the hands still up.
"Wow, good job," Terry said, impressed. "I guess it didn't look that hard."
"Mark changed his diaper once and put it on backwards," Shane said, getting out another wipe to hold over his hand when he picked up the used wipe and wet diaper, putting them into a small plastic bag that had also been in the bag.
Terry snorted. "Oh yeah? Bet that was funny."
"It was." Shane suddenly giggled while he squirted a dollop of hand sanitizer into his palms from a bottle in the diaper bag. "He couldn't figure out why he couldn't tape it right and it was falling off when Brandon got back. He said he was just going to let Shawn run free and for nature to take a course and Brandon said he would put used diapers in Mark's bed and Mark told him to eff off."
A few minutes later, when Brandon returned, Shane was helping Shawn build a tower of blocks and Sammie was tying the master of all knots in Terry's shoelaces, which he had been allowing because she started shrieking whenever he tried to tell her "no" or to move away. Having zero experience with little children before today, Terry wasn't sure what was appropriate to get her to stop (should he pick her up? Order her away?...tie knots in her shoes?) and so he sat on the edge of the sofa, reminding himself that shoelaces were about two dollars, and if nothing else, scissors would end up solving it.
"Hey," Brandon greeted, closing his door behind him. "What's up, dudes?"
"I changed Shawn," Shane announced. "And Sammie is being bad but Terry's too scared to make her stop."
"What's she doing?" Brandon came closer for a better look while Terry shrugged sheepishly. "Sammie, no! That's naughty." He reached for her hands and gently but firmly pulled her away from Terry's shoes.
"Nonononono!" Sammie shrieked, trying to twist away.
"No-no is right," Brandon said. "It's time to settle down, right now. Look what you're doing! What a mess!" Brandon pointed to Terry's shoelaces. "That wasn't very nice at all. Why are you doing that to Terry? I bet he was nice to you and played with you. Now you're going to make him sad."
Sammie looked at Terry doubtfully, and he stuck out his lower lip. "I sorry," she said finally. Brandon looked at Terry and raised his eyebrows.
"Um...that's okay," he said.
"Don't do that again, or I'll have to tell Mommy, okay?" Brandon said. Sammie stuck out her own lower lip, then flopped down on the floor with her arms crossed. "Sorry," Brandon half-grinned at Terry himself. "You could have told her to stop."
"I did!" he said indignantly. "I said, 'please don't do that', and she said, 'please be quiet'!"
Brandon bit his lip to keep from laughing. "Were the boys good, at least?"
"Oh yeah, Shane was pretty awesome. He did change the baby—I had absolutely no idea."
"Good job, guy," Brandon gave Shane a thumbs-up. "I'll make sure to tell your mom what a great helper you are. You're a really good big brother."
"I know," he said proudly, handing another block to Shawn and showing him where to place it on top of the growing tower.
When the kids' mother did arrive, Brandon as promised let her know about Shane and Sammie's deeds. She seemed exasperated that he had left them with Terry when she had trusted him to watch them, but he explained about the car seat situation and said things had gone pretty good with just Terry there. She left with them, still clearly annoyed, but Brandon shrugged it off.
"So, how was it, really?" he asked Terry once they were alone.
Terry shrugged. "Not as bad as I thought. Except for the little girl, it was pretty okay."
"Yeah, she's kind of moody, being three. People like Shane because he's talkative and smart, and they like Shawn because he's little and cute, and Lynn doesn't seem to have as much patience with her as she does with the boys." Brandon shrugged. "Usually she's pretty good."
"They over here a lot?"
"Some, yeah. We try to get at least three nights a week, and every other weekend." Brandon glanced sideways at Terry to see how he reacted to that. He was just looking at the poster of Smashing Pumpkins on the wall, idly playing with one of his recently-untied shoelaces. "I babysit a lot too," Brandon went on. "Usually at least once a week, and I do like to see my brothers and sister when they're here. I've taken care of them since they were born."
"Yeah, I think Shane said something about you taking him places ever since he was little. You take him to Eddie's?"
Brandon shrugged. "Sure. Most people like him, and he likes to spend time with me and see to how everyone we know interacts with each other."
"Don't people smoke down there?"
"Sometimes. Usually if we're in the big room with the ceiling fans on, he deliberately doesn't pay attention. He's pretty good about that. Like, if I'm taking a hit, Mark or Kylen will talk to him so he's not looking at me, and he won't."
"Huh. Well, they seem to really like you. They even listen to you. They seemed to mostly like me I guess, so." Terry shrugged.
Brandon grinned. "Yeah, I think they did. You did pretty good."
"Whatever. If Shane wasn't here, I would've panicked. He deserves a gold star," Terry said. Brandon snorted. Terry studied him. "You want to have three dozen kids, don't you?"
Brandon raised his eyebrows. "Well...not that many..."
"How many?"
"I dunno."
"A lot?"
"Well...a few. Why?"
Terry shrugged. "I just need to be prepared." When Brandon didn't respond for a moment, Terry glanced back at him in time to see a smile slowly growing. "What?" Terry said.
"Nothing."
Terry shrugged again. "So, are we leaving?"
"Sure." Brandon stood and offered his hand to Terry to help him up. Terry grinned and took it, not letting go as they headed for the door.
Timeline: Spring 2007
Title: Babysit
Summary: Terry is surprised to find several small children in Brandon's room when he goes up to see him. He is further surprised when he is left with the children, "in charge".
~3.3k
Terry was a little surprised to find that his new boyfriend's bedroom had been taken over by half a preschool.
Okay, so he didn't know how many tiny kids a preschool class generally held, but the part about being surprised to see a kid about kindergarten age, a toddler girl, and a baby all laughing and playing up in Brandon's room was still true.
"Hey," he said uncertainly, looking around as if he might suddenly remember having gone into the wrong house.
"Hey," Brandon greeted from the floor by the foot of his bed, and Terry stepped forward to see him on his hands and knees and reaching for something. "Sammie threw a toy under here," he explained to Terry's questioning look.
"Oh. Um..." Terry gestured to the older boy and the girl, who were now staring at him. "What's with the diaper crew?"
"I am not a baby!" the girl yelled. Terry put both of his hands up, I surrender, and took a step backwards. She looked satisfied.
Brandon laughed and then he finally sat up with something pink and purple in his hands. "Here ya go," he said, tossing it gently underhand so that it landed a few feet in front of the little girl. "Don't throw it again, okay? We don't throw toys, especially inside."
"Okay," she sighed heavily, as if he had informed her she wasn't allowed to watch cartoons in the house. Terry decided not to ask if the toss fell into the 'throwing toys inside' category or not.
"These are my brothers and sister; I told you about them," Brandon said to Terry, gesturing to the children. He pointed to the bigger boy, the girl, and then the baby. "Shane, Sammie, and Shawn. Shane's five, Sammie's three, and Shawn's thirteen months. Their mom's gonna come get 'em in about an hour and a half, then we can go."
"Go where?" Sammie asked, perking up.
"You're gonna go home with Mommy." Brandon's cell phone on the edge of his computer desk began to ring, and Shane, who was sitting in the chair and swinging his feet, reached for it. Terry expected Brandon to go get it, or at least tell the little boy to put it down, but he watched as Shane turned it around and tried to read the display.
"Kuh...why...ell...en. Ky...ell...Kylen!" Shane looked up and grinned.
"Sure is." Brandon grinned back. "You want to answer it for me?"
"Kay. Hello, this is Shane," he almost sang as he flipped the phone open. He listened for a second, then held it out to Brandon. "She needs you."
Brandon got up and went over to take the phone from Shane while Terry continued to stand uncomfortably just inside the door. He wasn't afraid of little kids, exactly, he just had no idea what to do with them, or how to behave around them. He wasn't sure if they knew about their brother dating him—or even being gay— wasn't sure if that was a secret he wasn't supposed to clue them in on, let alone anything about limitations on swearing or whatever else might be considered inappropriate. The older boy was watching Brandon on the phone, the girl was sitting on the floor staring at the TV (which Terry could hear had some tinkly music and cartoony voices singing something), and the baby, who could walk, seemed to be having a ball chasing a bright green plastic cup with two handles and a spout on the lid, that his clumsy feet were continually kicking away from him.
"I'll call you right back." Brandon took the phone away from his ear and looked at the kids, frowning slightly.
"What?" Terry asked.
Brandon gestured with his phone. "My friend Kylen missed her bus; she needs a ride home or she'll be stranded until midnight or have to walk home, and it's like, ten miles. I can go get her and take her home, but..." He motioned to the kids. "My dad's got their car seats in his car. I can't take them anywhere without them. They've got to stay here, and they're too little to leave by themselves. You said you don't have a license?"
Terry shook his head. "My dad said he's not buying me a car, so a license would be pretty pointless."
"Can you stay here with these guys for a little bit?"
Terry stared at him.
Brandon grinned. "It's not hard—they're good kids—and it won't be long. Please? I can't take them, and she really needs a ride. She knew you were coming over and already tried a bunch of others and said they either didn't answer or can't get her right now."
"Uhh...okay?" Terry looked around again, as if still lost. He shrugged. "What am I, like...supposed to do?"
"Just sit with them. They don't really need anything," Brandon glanced at each kid in turn, thinking. "They had a snack a little bit ago, Very Veggie Fantasty Fruit Hour or whatever is on, and they've got some toys. Shane will help, too, won't you buddy?" Brandon turned to his little brother and ruffled his hair.
"Sure." Shane grinned.
"I should be back within an hour. Probably only forty-five minutes or so." Brandon was rummaging on his desk for his keys. "My dad's number at the hospital is downstairs on the fridge if anything happens. Their mom's cell phone number is also down there, I think, and Shane has it memorized if it's not."
"Seven-eight-zeeroh-four-six-five-four-three-three-five," Shane chanted dutifully.
"My dad took my phone," Terry said.
"Oh. Well, take mine, just in case." Brandon offered it to Terry. "I can use Kylen's to call and check how you are when I get her. Their mom's number's in there—Lynn Claywell. I'll be with Kylen Tyler. You could also call my friend Mark—Mark Allgeyer—if anything happens, these guys know him. I'm pretty sure he wasn't working tonight."
"Um...yeah, okay." Terry took it, still unsure. He glanced back at Shawn, who was sitting down and happily sucking away at the top of his Sippy Cup. "What about the baby?"
Brandon shrugged again. "He shouldn't need anything. He doesn't get a bottle anymore, and when that juice is gone he'll be good until he gets home. Like I said, they got the cartoons and that basket is some toys."
"Um...okay."
Brandon snapped his fingers twice and all three kids looked at him. "I gotta go bye for just a little bit, kay? I'll be back before Mommy comes to get you. This is Terry," he said, pointing. "He's gonna stay here while I'm gone. He's in charge. Okay?" Brandon looked at Sammie. "No screaming," he told her seriously. "Can you guys be good while I'm gone?"
"Okay," Shane said, starting to twist and kick his feet in the computer chair again.
"Kay," Sammie said, turning back to her program.
"Joo?" Shawn held out his cup.
"Juice all gone?" Brandon asked.
"No." He stuck the spout back into his mouth, and they could hear the last dribbles bubbling.
"Good boy, okay?" Brandon asked him. "Bye-bye."
Shawn grinned. "Bye-bye."
"I'll call you from Kylen's phone in about fifteen minutes," Brandon promised Terry.
"Okay." Terry wasn't looking at Brandon now, but each of the children in turn. Shawn was still working his now clearly empty cup, Sammie was fixed to the TV, and Shane was still swinging from left to right in the chair but watching his brother. Brandon put his hand on Terry's shoulder as he headed out the door. Except for what sounded to Terry like woodchucks on a helium overdose playing the musical appendectomy from the television, it was quiet.
Terry became aware he was still just standing in the middle of the room, so he slowly walked over to the sofa and sat down. Shawn and Sammie were both on the rug in front of him and occupied, but Terry noticed the other little boy now watching him. "Hi," he said after a moment.
"Hi," Shane replied. Back and forth went the chair, back and forth went his body, but his head stayed stationary so that he could continue staring. "Are you Brandon's boyfriend?" he asked suddenly.
Terry blinked. So much for it not being uncomfortable. "Umm...are—are you supposed to know about that?"
"About what?"
"About...that, I guess."
Shane didn't stop spinning the chair halfway to the left, halfway to the right. "That what? That he goes on dates?"
"Well..."
"That he goes on dates with other boys?"
"Um…that'd be it."
"Yeah, I know," Shane said nonchalantly, still spinning. "My mom doesn't like it, but Dad says Brandon takes better care of us than he does. Most of the girls she gets to babysit us have boyfriends too, so it's the same." He shrugged again. "So are you?"
"Yeah, I guess."
Shane nodded. "I heard him telling Mark and Kylen and Luke and some of the others about you at Eddie's. He really likes you."
"Brandon takes you there?" Terry was surprised. He wouldn't have thought the basement hangout full of teenagers blasting rock music, making out, and smoking weed would have been appropriate for a five-year-old.
"Sure. He takes me lots of places." Shane grinned proudly. "He did ever since I was born."
"Oh. That's...nice," Terry said, unsure of where to go from there.
"Over," Sammie suddenly sang, whirling around and looking expectantly at Terry. He glanced at the TV and saw credits rolling.
"Okay...what do you want to do now?"
"Play puppies!" she shrieked, jumping up and running to the toy basket Brandon had indicated, dumping out the entire contents and coming up with several very small stuffed dogs.
"Whoa!" Terry winced. "Brandon said no screaming, okay?"
"I not screaming, I happy!" she corrected.
"Oh. Um, okay then."
"You play puppies too!" she thrust an armful of floppy ears and tails into his arms.
"Oh, um...?"
"Arf, arf! Arf, arf, arf!" Sammie held a dog a few inches above the floor and made it walk.
"Arr arr!" Shawn imitated, delighted.
Sammie giggled. "Shawny silly," she sang.
Terry relaxed. Shane seemed content to stay in Brandon's chair and just watch everyone while Sammie busied herself with the stuffed animals and Shawn watched her, occasionally reaching for one of the animals she'd toss aside in favor of the next. These kids seem pretty okay, he thought. They were calm and playful, and none of them had seemed to want to fight with each other or refuse to do what they were told. Not that he was telling them to do anything.
Brandon's phone started ringing, and Terry jumped. Shane was already holding it out to him. "Thanks." He stood up and reached for it, checked that it said KYLEN, with a picture of a blonde girl giving the finger, and held it to his ear. "Hello?"
"Hey, it's me. Everything okay?"
"Uhh, yeah, I guess." Terry eyed the two younger children. Sammie was causing a doggie to climb up Shawn's leg, his arm, and up to his head where she made pig-like snorting sounds to indicate it sniffing his ear. He giggled and fell over, then sneezed. "I mean, like, no one's crying or anything. They're playing with toys right now."
"Awesome," Brandon said, sounding relieved. "I'll be back in, like, twenty minutes."
"Okay. Bye." Terry set the phone back down on the desk and resumed his seat on the sofa. Shawn had gotten up from the floor and was slowly taking deliberate steps over to him. "Hi kiddo," Terry said. Shawn looked at him, then seemed to slap his own hips twice. Terry frowned a little, confused. "What's up?" he tried again. Shawn did the same thing.
"He needs his diaper changed," Shane spoke up.
"Oh, yeah? Is that what he does when...?"
"That's sign language. Brandon taught some to us when we were babies since we can't talk very well when we're that little," Shane explained. "He can say, 'I love you', 'thank you', ask for juice or a cracker, and a few other things. Diaper change is one of them, and that's it. The bag is over here."
"Oh. Uhh...I don't..." Terry looked around helplessly.
"You don't know how to change a diaper?"
"No? I never really needed to. My sister's only a couple of years younger than me."
Shane slid off the chair, grabbed the strap of a dark blue mini-duffel bag, and dragged it over to the sofa. "I can do it."
"Oh. Okay."
"C'mere Shawny," Shane said, kneeling on the floor and unzipping the bag. He came up with a diaper and a box of wipes. Shawn came over and put both arms around Shane's neck and hugged him. Shane grinned and hugged him back, then helped him sit down and lay back. "Hold still," he cautioned, then started to wiggle his brother's sweatpants off and pull loose the adhesive tapes on the diaper he was wearing. "Just pee," he announced, carefully pulling it out from under the baby and folding it, then clumsily taping it closed. Shane got out a wipe and carefully cleaned the entire diaper area while Shawn opened and closed the clean diaper, then he gently tugged the new diaper away from Shawn.
It took a couple of tries for him to be able to hold Shawn's legs up and slide the diaper underneath him, but eventually he got his brother centered and taped it securely on him. He got the pants wiggled back up on him, then reached for his hands and helped him stand up again. Shane held both of his open hands with his palms facing himself, then turned them to face Shawn. "All done!" He grinned. Shawn grinned back at him and gave Shane two high-fives with the hands still up.
"Wow, good job," Terry said, impressed. "I guess it didn't look that hard."
"Mark changed his diaper once and put it on backwards," Shane said, getting out another wipe to hold over his hand when he picked up the used wipe and wet diaper, putting them into a small plastic bag that had also been in the bag.
Terry snorted. "Oh yeah? Bet that was funny."
"It was." Shane suddenly giggled while he squirted a dollop of hand sanitizer into his palms from a bottle in the diaper bag. "He couldn't figure out why he couldn't tape it right and it was falling off when Brandon got back. He said he was just going to let Shawn run free and for nature to take a course and Brandon said he would put used diapers in Mark's bed and Mark told him to eff off."
A few minutes later, when Brandon returned, Shane was helping Shawn build a tower of blocks and Sammie was tying the master of all knots in Terry's shoelaces, which he had been allowing because she started shrieking whenever he tried to tell her "no" or to move away. Having zero experience with little children before today, Terry wasn't sure what was appropriate to get her to stop (should he pick her up? Order her away?...tie knots in her shoes?) and so he sat on the edge of the sofa, reminding himself that shoelaces were about two dollars, and if nothing else, scissors would end up solving it.
"Hey," Brandon greeted, closing his door behind him. "What's up, dudes?"
"I changed Shawn," Shane announced. "And Sammie is being bad but Terry's too scared to make her stop."
"What's she doing?" Brandon came closer for a better look while Terry shrugged sheepishly. "Sammie, no! That's naughty." He reached for her hands and gently but firmly pulled her away from Terry's shoes.
"Nonononono!" Sammie shrieked, trying to twist away.
"No-no is right," Brandon said. "It's time to settle down, right now. Look what you're doing! What a mess!" Brandon pointed to Terry's shoelaces. "That wasn't very nice at all. Why are you doing that to Terry? I bet he was nice to you and played with you. Now you're going to make him sad."
Sammie looked at Terry doubtfully, and he stuck out his lower lip. "I sorry," she said finally. Brandon looked at Terry and raised his eyebrows.
"Um...that's okay," he said.
"Don't do that again, or I'll have to tell Mommy, okay?" Brandon said. Sammie stuck out her own lower lip, then flopped down on the floor with her arms crossed. "Sorry," Brandon half-grinned at Terry himself. "You could have told her to stop."
"I did!" he said indignantly. "I said, 'please don't do that', and she said, 'please be quiet'!"
Brandon bit his lip to keep from laughing. "Were the boys good, at least?"
"Oh yeah, Shane was pretty awesome. He did change the baby—I had absolutely no idea."
"Good job, guy," Brandon gave Shane a thumbs-up. "I'll make sure to tell your mom what a great helper you are. You're a really good big brother."
"I know," he said proudly, handing another block to Shawn and showing him where to place it on top of the growing tower.
When the kids' mother did arrive, Brandon as promised let her know about Shane and Sammie's deeds. She seemed exasperated that he had left them with Terry when she had trusted him to watch them, but he explained about the car seat situation and said things had gone pretty good with just Terry there. She left with them, still clearly annoyed, but Brandon shrugged it off.
"So, how was it, really?" he asked Terry once they were alone.
Terry shrugged. "Not as bad as I thought. Except for the little girl, it was pretty okay."
"Yeah, she's kind of moody, being three. People like Shane because he's talkative and smart, and they like Shawn because he's little and cute, and Lynn doesn't seem to have as much patience with her as she does with the boys." Brandon shrugged. "Usually she's pretty good."
"They over here a lot?"
"Some, yeah. We try to get at least three nights a week, and every other weekend." Brandon glanced sideways at Terry to see how he reacted to that. He was just looking at the poster of Smashing Pumpkins on the wall, idly playing with one of his recently-untied shoelaces. "I babysit a lot too," Brandon went on. "Usually at least once a week, and I do like to see my brothers and sister when they're here. I've taken care of them since they were born."
"Yeah, I think Shane said something about you taking him places ever since he was little. You take him to Eddie's?"
Brandon shrugged. "Sure. Most people like him, and he likes to spend time with me and see to how everyone we know interacts with each other."
"Don't people smoke down there?"
"Sometimes. Usually if we're in the big room with the ceiling fans on, he deliberately doesn't pay attention. He's pretty good about that. Like, if I'm taking a hit, Mark or Kylen will talk to him so he's not looking at me, and he won't."
"Huh. Well, they seem to really like you. They even listen to you. They seemed to mostly like me I guess, so." Terry shrugged.
Brandon grinned. "Yeah, I think they did. You did pretty good."
"Whatever. If Shane wasn't here, I would've panicked. He deserves a gold star," Terry said. Brandon snorted. Terry studied him. "You want to have three dozen kids, don't you?"
Brandon raised his eyebrows. "Well...not that many..."
"How many?"
"I dunno."
"A lot?"
"Well...a few. Why?"
Terry shrugged. "I just need to be prepared." When Brandon didn't respond for a moment, Terry glanced back at him in time to see a smile slowly growing. "What?" Terry said.
"Nothing."
Terry shrugged again. "So, are we leaving?"
"Sure." Brandon stood and offered his hand to Terry to help him up. Terry grinned and took it, not letting go as they headed for the door.