Core Four Short Stories

Babysitting

"Hey guys! It's been too long." Mishil pulled Ferbie and Fubble into a hug. "Thank you so much for coming on such short notice." She closed her front door and led the two men towards the living room of her house.

"Don't even mention it. We're always happy to help-" The end of Fubble's sentence morphed into a yawn.

"You doing okay?"

"He worked late at the hospital last night." Ferbie answered for Fubble with an eye roll.

Mishil's smile wavered slightly. "Is he going to be okay for the night?"

Fubble chuckled. "You two are worrying about nothing. I have energy to spare, it will be fine."

She sighed and shrugged. "Okay, all important information is on this paper like the phone number of the hotel we're staying at. Pet food info. What Patience eats. Any questions don't hesitate to text."

Ferbie started to tense up. "Speaking of Patience, where is she?" Ferbie looked around the house.

"I just woke her up from her nap so she will be down in a moment. You'll need to make her a snack." Mishil grabbed her bag and walked towards the door. "Again, thank you both. There's money in the kitchen for pizza."

The men said their farewells as Mishil left. They both looked at each other with a tired stare. Fubble stretched his face out, trying not to look inconspicuous.

Ferbie raised an eyebrow. "You know that's not subtle at all, right? Just yawn."

Fubble gave in and covered the yawn with his hand. The men turned at the sound of the stairs creaking. Soon enough Patience was at the bottom, holding onto an elephant plushie. It took her a moment to register the faces of the people in front of her.

"Uncle Ferbie! Uncle Fubble!" She ran to the men, dropping the plush.

Ferbie almost cowered away but Fubble squatted down and picked her up. "Hi Patience!" He twirled around causing her to squeal. Fubble held Patience on his hip as he stopped to face Ferbie.

She gripped onto Fubble's shirt. "Can we play princesses?!"

Fubble chuckled. "Yeah of course. Ferbie, want to play?"

"Please Uncle Ferbie!" Both of them gave Ferbie a wide eyed puppy dog pout.

Ferbie gave a bashful smile. "I uh, I'm gonna focus on the snack." Ferbie decided. He thought it would be best if he wasn't around her. He got so nervous around kids. He never knew what to do or say to entertain them.

"That's fine. More tiara choices for us." Fubble winked and leaned over to kiss Ferbie's cheek. "Now, if you'll excuse us, Princess Patience has a ball to prepare for."

***

"Alrighty, who's ready for fruit slices." Ferbie failed to make it sound more exciting as he entered the living room with the plate. He froze when his eyes landed on the two.

Patience knelt beside the couch where Fubble was passed out, snoring lightly. She smeared more lip gloss onto Fubble before turning to face Ferbie.

"Uncle Fubble fell asleep. I'm making sure we're not late for the ball. Do you think he'll like it?"

Ferbie narrowed his eyes at Fubble as he set the plate down on the coffee table. He promised me he wasn't going to fall asleep! Now what am I supposed to do? He smiled nervously and nodded. "He'll love it, who doesn't love blue eyeshadow? Uh let's eat this fruit huh?"

"But if we don't hurry the ball will start without us!"

Ferbie sighed. "I'm sure they will pause it so you can have your snack."