The Misadventures of Raising Allen Walker

~4~

"I'll be back in a few hours, don't wreck the house." Nodding as he watched Mana leave, he turned to the couch, bouncing Allen in his arms as he looked to his friend and half-brother.

"I still don't understand how the three of us got stuck with babysitting. What are we even supposed to do with him?" Hearing the words from the red-head, he really wished he didn't see the smirk on Tiki's face.

"We can leave him to his own devices right? Let's bring him with us into town, I'm sure he won't mind." In hindsight, he knew the three of them were going to regret the decision, wether Allen tattled on them or Mana found out on his own.

"Come on Nea, you going to play or are you just going to stare at your cards." Blinking as he finally escaped his thoughts, he looked back at his hand and clicked his tongue. Setting the cards down again he shook his head. He was usually able to bluff when he played, but he could just say his reason for not was sitting on the floor coloring with a lollipop in his mouth.

"Fold." Resting his forehead on his palm he closed his eyes for only a moment before he felt a hand pulling on the bottom of his shirt. "Something wrong Allen? Need to use the bathroom again?" Raising an eyebrow as he watched his nephew shake his head, he glanced to where the pages were to find them put back into Allen's backpack with his coloring tools.

"Can I play Nee? Please?" Blinking once, then twice, he couldn't stop himself from chuckling at the question. Letting Allen climb onto his lap, he made sure to hold the whitette in place so he wouldn't fall as more cards were dealt out. Catching an odd look from Tiki, he only managed to shrug.

"You sure it's smart for him to be up here?"

"He's just watching, it's not like I'm giving him any cards." If only he knew how wrong he was saying that. After a few rounds of playing he had to get up to use the bathroom, not expecting it to be so crowded when he got there. Upon getting back to the table he found what had to be one of the cutest and most scary things he's seen in his life. Allen, who had stayed in the seat when he left the table, was now standing in the chair so he could see the whole table, holding his cards close to him. Apparently by the looks of everyone's chips a few rounds had already been played. Tapping on Tiki's shoulder, he watched as Allen bounced on his feet in the chair.

"Oh, Nea, you're back? What took you so long?" Giving an unamused expression to his half-brother, he gestured to the toddler standing in his seat.

"It was crowded. Please tell me why Allen is playing in my place." Glancing around the table, he could see that there were new players, apparently a few had come and gone while he was away.

"Well the hand was dealt and we waited a few minutes for you to come back, but it was taking too long and Allen picked up your cards. Don't worry, he's kicking our asses. Though you might need to just pull up another chair, I doubt he's going to give you yours back at this point." Sighing, he waited for the round to end before he stepped over to Allen, the toddler trying to stack his tokens apart from his uncle's. By the looks of the stacks of plastic coins, the toddler really was kicking everyone's asses at poker.

"Hey kiddo, can I have my seat back? I didn't mean for you to play for me, especially not for this long." Watching as Allen chose to visibly think, he could hear the giggling before he got his answer, hearing laughter from the rest of the table.

"No! I'm play, Nee! You play too?" Okay, he couldn't say no to that face. Grabbing a chair from another table, he moved so he was on the side of Allen that was opposite of Tiki. He would need to wait for the next round in order to be dealt in, but he couldn't help his blush in embarrassment at how much better his nephew was doing at the game after watching him play maybe ten rounds before he took over.