Hot chocolate, pumpkin spice lattes, apple cider
Toby sighed, rubbing his face a bit as he sat down with a slump in the couch. Things had felt off for so long now, and he just couldn’t put his finger on it. Then he’s suddenly asked to look after Vincent, even though the guy was like...in his 30s? Right?
He sighed, “So how long do you need me to watch him, Boss?” He asked.
“I told you, Toby. Orlando and I are stuck in a situation and Erica is busy. It’s just for a few hours.” Jonny told him. Next to him, Vincent was playing with a sheep plushie. Well, hugging it more like. He looked curiously at Toby, as if he didn’t recognize him.
That was another thing that was weird, Jonny was living with Orlando. Then Vince acted like a kid. It was all just too strange. He heard Jonny sigh, looking at his watch.
“Orlando, are you ready?!” Jonny called out.
“I SAID I WAS SORRY! I CAN’T SAY NO TO MY NONNA SHE OFFERED VINNY COOKIES.”
“Just get down here!” He huffed.
Orlando came downstairs, “We’d bring the tyke along, but I don’t think he’d care all that much for a family reunion where he’d be scrutinized by all the old bastards there because he’s the only little in this family and he’s special because he was abused at the adoption center. I would say you know how it is, but I don’t even think Erica brought up you two potentially adopting.”
Toby just blinked a bit as Jonny just pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’re also like, one of four caretakers in your entire family, Orlando. This is gonna be awful.”
“At least my family doesn’t support the bastard in office. Let’s just get going and hopefully we won’t have to hear a bunch of questions like ‘so when is Jonny going to take the womb-growth pill, Orlando’? ‘When are you going to have some biologicals’...God, I want to dieee…”
“This is your fault.” Jonny bent down to Vincent, “Okay we’re gonna go now, Toby’s gonna be here to watch you. I know you don’t know him very well, but he works with me, okay? If you need anything, you know where Dada and Papa’s numbers are right?”
“Mhm.” He nodded, “On the fridge, next to my pichur.”
“That’s right, and we’ll be home by dark.” He kissed his forehead, “Be good, okay?”
“Why are you saying that, babe?” Orlando raised an eyebrow, “Vincent is incapable of being even remotely bad. Half the time when he tries, he does things he thinks he’s not allowed to but we actually couldn’t give less of a shit about. He asked you if he could help with the linens and when you didn’t answer, he tried to put them into the wash himself.”
“Right, right, I guess I don’t need to worry about him.” Jonny stood up, turning to Toby. “You fuck up, you’re dead.”
Orlando chuckled, “You’ll get 20 bucks by the end of this, there’s money on the counter for takeout.” With that, they left and it took Vincent a good ten minutes to realize they were gone and when he did, instead of getting upset...He just sat in front of the front door with his sheep in his lap, just looking at the door, waiting.
Toby sighed and rubbed the back of his head. “So...do you want to do anything, Vince?” He asked, this was weird.
“Nuh-uh. Gotta wait for Dada and Papa.” Vincent seemed to notice his uncomfortable-ness and well...he technically was a stranger to this kid, so no wonder he wasn’t acting like he did in the Stray Sheep. “Sheepy and I wait here.”
“Oh.” He muttered, looking around a bit. “Uhh...but it’s probably no fun to just sit there, right?”
“Is ‘kay.” Vincent replied, “Is kay. You can go watch ‘toons.”
Toby just nodded and went over to the couch, pulling out his phone. Deciding to call Erica, she had to be on break.
“Erica.”
“Toby? What’s wrong? Do you need me to come over?” Of course Erica was briefed on the situation, likely due to the fact that Vincent didn’t know Toby all that well and could be uncomfortable around strangers.
“No no, just...how do I deal with kids?”
“Well, what’s wrong with Vin?” She asked, before realizing, “Toby, why don’t you just bond with him. Do what you’d like to do on any old Saturday. I’ll be done in about an hour, why don’t we meet up at Starbucks?”
He sighed, “fine, that’s fine. I’m just...I've never handled kids before. I don’t know what I’m doing.” Vincent counted as a kid right? Everyone seemed to think so at least.
Erica sighed, chuckling a bit, “You’re like a new dad in that regard, it’s going to be fine. Vincent just naturally is a bit weird when it comes to strangers. It doesn’t help that the kid’s homeschooled three days a week and Orlando is a stay at home dad. He’s just gotta get used to you.” She pointed out, “I love you, I’ll be done in about an hour, okay? Let’s meet at Starbucks, you know what I want right? I don’t like Pumpkin Spice, you know I like Cinnamon Dolce. I’ll bring you something from work in exchange.”
“Alright. I’ll see you then.” Toby rubbed his face a bit, this was stressful.
Vincent thankfully hadn’t moved from his spot on the floor, but therein laid another problem- he was still in his pajamas.
“Hey Vincent, do you want to get dressed to go out in a bit?”
“Out? We see Papa and Dada?” He asked, holding onto his plushy tight to his chest.
“Well no, but we’re gonna meet up with Erica.”
Vincent gasped, "Aunty Erica?"
Toby nodded, “Yeah, she wanted to meet up with us in a little bit.”
Vincent gasped and left for his bedroom, and when he followed after, the kid was trying to pull on four different jumpers, had somehow gotten out of his pants and had a pair of underwear hanging from his head.
“Okay okay.” He went over and helped him.
Vincent looked scandalized, but allowed it, remembering to be good. What the hell, anything looked really good on him. He wore jeans, a random shirt, a hoodie and a scarf. Oh, and mismatched socks.
“Well this is good enough for heading out.” He made sure everything was on comfortably for him. Vincent eagerly tried to get his cute little trainers on- wait….When had he decided he was cute?
He finished up, nodding once he was done. “There we go, all ready to go.”
Vincent nodded, stomping his feet and wrapping up his neck in a cute scarf that had a little snowman on it. “Go see auntie?”
“Yea let’s go see her.” Toby nodded, making sure he had everything before heading out with him.
Meeting at their local starbucks, after a good twenty minutes. Toby had to figure out exactly how to put Vincent’s carseat into his car, after all. What was even more surprising was how it fit so securely, like it was meant there...
What even was this reality. Nothing just made sense to him, he sighed quietly, before getting Vincent into the car.
Vincent kicked his legs, “Staawwwbucks.”
He smiled at him, “Yeah we're gonna go to Starbucks.” He nodded, patting his knee. He finished getting him strapped in, after struggling a bit, all the while, just so confused internally.
When they finally arrived at the place, Toby could see Erica’s car waiting in one of the car plots, herself having exited the vehicle and changed into a comfortable looking cream jumper, a brown leather jacket, some jeans and some sneakers. Her hair, longer than he had ever known it to be, was tied off in a fishtail braid. She looked gorgeous.
He blinked a bit in surprise, getting Vincent out of the car before going up to her. “Hey.”
“Hey.” She smiled, “Oh there’s the muffin man! You want to get some breakfast with Auntie Erica and Uncle Toby?”
“Ye!” Vincent nodded, “Can I has choccy?”
“Oh of course you can have some hot chocolate, honey.” She smiled, picking him up.
Toby nodded a bit, “I can go get it. What did you want Erica?”
“Can you get me a Cinnamon Dolce Latte? Whole milk, Venti. Get Vince a Whole Milk, Short Hot Chocolate.” Erica explained, “And make sure that they put a kids’ lid on it, we don’t want Vince to hurt himself.”
Toby nodded and went up to the counter, ordering himself a drink. He went with something cold, since his body was on fire from everything. Before getting the rest of the order.
About 5 minutes later, he had a drink carrier full of drinks and three straws...Oh yeah, he had to ask for that kid lid or whatever.
He looked over, “Um can I get a kids lid for the hot chocolate?”
“Oh, of course.” The employee gave him a...plastic sippy cup lid, “Would you like for me to exchange them for you?”
“That’d be great.” He took out the hot chocolate and set it on the counter.
The employee replaced the lid and well...it definitely looked like a kids drink now. Vincent seemed very happy, kicking his feet as he waited with Erica, who was telling stories about Toby that Toby hadn’t even told the guys.
“Thank you.” He took the drink and went over to the two. “Are you talking shit about me Erica?” He asked.
“Language.” Erica patted him on the back roughly, “But no. I was telling Vince that you’re not a bad guy, you’re just a dork and I was telling him about that time you snorted chocolate milk because I made you laugh.”
“That hurt pretty bad, I’ll have you know.” He set down the drinks.
“You say that, but you were laughing for twenty minutes afterwards.” Erica giggled, “Anyways, thanks for buying the drinks. I’ll buy your beers tonight when you go to the Stray Sheep.”
“Thank you.” He sat down, “How long are you working tonight?”
“Closing shift.” She explained, “Though it’s not too bad. I did work the breakfast shift at The Pastry Owl.”
Vincent looked at her, “Aunty Erica nap?”
“Nah, not yet.” She smiled, taking a sip of the coffee given. “I’ll be making sure Uncle Toby doesn’t get you into things you shouldn’t be given.”
“Hey. I’m not that irresponsible.” He huffed.
“You say that, but don’t you remember how you didn’t buy groceries for two weeks until I stayed over at your place, not only forcing you to get some groceries, but also cleaning up your space? You can’t be productive in a pig pen, Toby. I love you sweetie, but you need to pick up your stuff, you’re not a little guy like Vin. You can’t get away with it.” Even still, kissing his cheek and just offering some guidance, Erica was sweet in her own blunt and sarcastic way. Vincent just sipped on his hot chocolate, happy with the situation at hand. He would not only get to spend a day with his most favorite Aunty Erica, but he would get to make a new friend.
And at the expense of Toby, a little coffee shop babysitting adventure was great.