The Neighbor Next Door

Babysitting

It took a few weeks for things to feel normal again. MePhone felt a lot of things between the night he basically cuddled, but right now, as it reached early August, he felt normal. It didn't feel like his brain was constantly waging a war with himself, and he once again felt safer being on his own again. Throughout these few weeks, he'd spent a few more nights over, just crashing on OJ's couch, and he really appreciated it. He also planned when his brother was going to visit again, a date set for later this month. That was fine, and now that he was finally feeling stable again, even just slightly so, he was almost excited. He'd like to actually be able to do something with his brother while he was over this time. He was also a little nervous, because a lot has happened between the time they had actually seen each other again, namely his whole breakdown, but... The tone between their texting was less strained now, so that was a good sign, right? Yeah. That was good. This was good.

It was also a good thing that things were normal again between him and OJ. If anything, these few weeks had really helped the two grow closer. Which... Was nice, but it was getting harder for MePhone to stifle how he felt. A constant growing feeling, a flower that had yet to bloom, and one he wasn't sure he wanted to let do so yet.

But that was fine. He wasn't ready to act on any probably romantic feelings yet, and it was better that way, anyways. He didn't want to ruin another possible bond with someone over thinking he loved them.

So he wasn't quite at the level of accepting how he felt yet, but if was fine. It was better this way anyways.

It was one of the nights MePhone was crashing on his couch again that he was asked a favor, though. He was doing the dishes from whatever he and his kids had for dinner-- MePhone asking to come by well after that, and the two were mostly just sharing a comfortable silence. At least, until OJ started speaking;

"So...,"

"So?" MePhone glanced over through the large open doorway, into the kitchen, looking at OJ.

"Can I ask you a huge favor?" He was drying his hands currently, turning to face the other as he walked over, standing leaned against the doorway itself.

"...Yeah? What's up?" MePhone raised an eyebrow.

"This might be super sudden, and you can totally say no and I can find someone else, but I was wondering if I could trust you to watch my kids this weekend?"

MePhone blinked. This was not what he had been expecting to be asked.

"Uh... How many days?"

"Just Friday and Saturday... And some of Sunday, while I'm making my way back. You don't have to go out and do anything special, or make them anything huge for dinner or anything-- and I'll do some shopping beforehand so you'll have stuff to make for them, and uh-- yourself if you want, but... I'm heading over to the city to go visit some of my friends,"
"Oh-- well, I mean, I think? I can do this?" He sounded completely unsure, but he didn't want to let the guy down. He also wanted to be on the good side of these kids, because he cared about OJ. He wasn't... The best with kids, but he at least didn't dislike these two. They were a lot less mean and chaotic than most children were these days, so... He could do this. Yeah. All he had to do was make sure they didn't break anything, or get hurt, and make them dinner. Yeah. He could do that, right?

"Normally I'd ask Fan or TestTube, but Fan's visiting his partner, and TestTube took her kids to go see our mom,"

"I already said I'd do it, you uh... Don't need to convince me,"

"Okay, great. Thank you, genuinely." OJ gave a small smile, relieved he wouldn't have to call a babysitter, or ask anyone else, because well... No offense to Salt, but she didn't seem like the kind of person to be reliable with children. That, and they weren't close enough friends yet.