(no subject)
Title: Babysitting
Characters: Kirley Duke, Anastasia Tremlett
Rating: PG-13, for language.
Warnings: Language, and absurd levels of cute.
Word Count: ~1,050.
Summary: "Delicately, he stared at her through the plastic bars of her crib, this mystifying little person who’d come into his life and made it so much better just by the sheer value of being tiny and needing him around."
Disclaimer: They're all JKR's kids and/or the kids of JKR's kids; I'm just playing with them.
A/N: Uhm. Kirley wanted to do something adorable with his goddaughter. So I let him. Anastasia and her dad, Donaghan Tremlett, are Sally's characters at InsaneJournal's Rent Asunder RPG.
Kirley hated being alone, even if he technically wasn’t. It really wasn’t anything serious, or anything at all, or whatever, and it didn’t mean, as it did with some people, that he was an obnoxiously social person. He just didn’t like being by himself. Bad things usually tended to happen when he was only with himself, and he was rather unaccompanied at the moment. Which made perfect sense, seeing that Don and Lucy had wanted some time to go and do things of a “Don and Lucy being Don and Lucy” nature, and Kirley had found himself called upon to baby-sit. That, in itself, really was not a problem. Kirley loved his little goddaughter, and spending time with her, and watching over her, but… it was times like this, times when she was just sleeping and she was perfectly quiet and still, that were so beautiful and mysterious. Delicately, he stared at her through the plastic bars of her crib, this mystifying little person who’d come into his life and made it so much better just by the sheer value of being tiny and needing him around. Maybe she wasn’t his daughter, but being his best mate’s daughter was close enough, right? Any kid that was actually his was doomed to be fucked up, anyway, which made Ana infinitely preferable.
And then - the screaming came. Slowly, Ana opened her big, dewy eyes and, for a moment, she stared through the bars at Kirley. Then, no doubt realizing that he wasn’t her Mum or her Dad, she took a shaky breath and let it out in an ear-shattering wail. Oh, fucking Merlin, Kirley hated it when Ana screamed. Even more than giving in and throwing back a shot because he couldn’t sleep, listening to Ana shriek at him made him feel weak and helpless. Worse still, everything Don had told him about how to settle her down was quickly flying out the window, even though Kirley had known it all since his first time babysitting Ana, which he’d even done with Don’s assistance, so he should’ve bloody remembered what all he was supposed to be doing. …Oh, fuck. Oh, Merlin. Oh, Salazar. Oh, Salazar fucking Merlin - what the Hell was Kirley supposed to be doing to make this girl calm down? Holding - oh, right, holding her was a good start.
Gently, so as not to drop her or upset her further, Kirley picked Ana up and leaned her on his shoulder; ad libbing from there, he paced around Don’s flat, bouncing her gently and, with his free hand, rubbing her back.
“Sssssh, Ana, please just, ssssssh,” he crooned, rubbing his cheek against her tiny, blonde head. “Please shush up, please, your Da will kill me if he comes home and you’re crying.” Actually, Kirley rather doubted that, but he wasn’t perfectly sure. Don was a good father, which seemed to rule out murdering his best mate, but, if anything happened to Ana on Kirley’s watch, Kirley wouldn’t have been surprised by Don picking his daughter over his friend. Any good parent would have.
And Ana was still bloody screaming.
“Ana, please, please, please, please, please stop crying - Uncle Kirley can’t stand it when you cry. He hates seeing you sad, baby, he really does, so please, please, please just stop making so many noises - should we sing? I always forget your children’s songs, but I can make something up, or something - anything, just please stop - ow!”
Kirley had been so preoccupied with making Ana’s crying stop that he had, in fact, not noticed when she’d stopped. The only reason that he’d even stopped trying to comfort her was because he’d felt something yank at his hair. Lifting his head, he looked down at her incredulously and was met by her wide, small-toothed grin. There was still a tiny hand knotted in his hair, and she pulled again, getting another pained gasp out of him.
“Oi!” he groaned, gently coaxing her hand out of his hair. “Bloody… little lady, we have to get something straight. So let’s get it straight: we do not pull our godfather’s hair, okay? Uncle Kirley likes all his hair on his head.”
Clearly trying to test him, she put her hand into his hair and pulled on another clump of his hair.
“Oi! Ana! We don’t pull hair, okay? Especially Uncle Kirley’s hair.”
He was expecting another tug, but all he got was a little head nuzzling into his neck and sighing, “Kirley…”
“Why you conniving little… you know, when you go to Hogwarts, your Da’s gonna want you in his old House. But I bet you anything you end up in mine. Not even close to eleven yet, and you’re already a right little Slytherin.”
She nuzzled his neck again and sighed, “Mine. My Kirley.”
“’s right, little girl,” he said gently, kissing the top of her pretty blonde locks. “’m your Kirley. All yours.”
She answered him by yawning deeply, which was downright adorable, but just not on. Why did she go waking up if she just wanted to go back to sleep? And why did she have to go yawning at her poor, perpetually stressed godfather, who hadn’t slept well for the past two days? And why was the one hand whose thumb wasn’t presently being sucked upon pulling so desperately at his shirt? She yawned yet again, which prompted the same reaction from him. …Merlin, naptime for both of them sounded like a brilliant plan. …But what if she woke up, he didn’t, and Don came home and got rightfully hacked off at him for falling asleep while he was supposed to be watching Ana?
One look down at her answered that question right quick. The poor thing was already dosing off on his shoulder, placidly sucking on her thumb.
And he could be up before Don got home. Kirley trusted himself to do that much. Sighing warmly, and nuzzling the top of his goddaughter’s head in the process, Kirley sat down on the sofa and shifted into a sleeping position. Maybe she was too young to know it - though Kirley highly doubted that - but Ana really was the most adept person in the world at manipulating him… granted, it certainly helped her cause that Kirley was perfectly willing to be manipulated.
Characters: Kirley Duke, Anastasia Tremlett
Rating: PG-13, for language.
Warnings: Language, and absurd levels of cute.
Word Count: ~1,050.
Summary: "Delicately, he stared at her through the plastic bars of her crib, this mystifying little person who’d come into his life and made it so much better just by the sheer value of being tiny and needing him around."
Disclaimer: They're all JKR's kids and/or the kids of JKR's kids; I'm just playing with them.
A/N: Uhm. Kirley wanted to do something adorable with his goddaughter. So I let him. Anastasia and her dad, Donaghan Tremlett, are Sally's characters at InsaneJournal's Rent Asunder RPG.
Kirley hated being alone, even if he technically wasn’t. It really wasn’t anything serious, or anything at all, or whatever, and it didn’t mean, as it did with some people, that he was an obnoxiously social person. He just didn’t like being by himself. Bad things usually tended to happen when he was only with himself, and he was rather unaccompanied at the moment. Which made perfect sense, seeing that Don and Lucy had wanted some time to go and do things of a “Don and Lucy being Don and Lucy” nature, and Kirley had found himself called upon to baby-sit. That, in itself, really was not a problem. Kirley loved his little goddaughter, and spending time with her, and watching over her, but… it was times like this, times when she was just sleeping and she was perfectly quiet and still, that were so beautiful and mysterious. Delicately, he stared at her through the plastic bars of her crib, this mystifying little person who’d come into his life and made it so much better just by the sheer value of being tiny and needing him around. Maybe she wasn’t his daughter, but being his best mate’s daughter was close enough, right? Any kid that was actually his was doomed to be fucked up, anyway, which made Ana infinitely preferable.
And then - the screaming came. Slowly, Ana opened her big, dewy eyes and, for a moment, she stared through the bars at Kirley. Then, no doubt realizing that he wasn’t her Mum or her Dad, she took a shaky breath and let it out in an ear-shattering wail. Oh, fucking Merlin, Kirley hated it when Ana screamed. Even more than giving in and throwing back a shot because he couldn’t sleep, listening to Ana shriek at him made him feel weak and helpless. Worse still, everything Don had told him about how to settle her down was quickly flying out the window, even though Kirley had known it all since his first time babysitting Ana, which he’d even done with Don’s assistance, so he should’ve bloody remembered what all he was supposed to be doing. …Oh, fuck. Oh, Merlin. Oh, Salazar. Oh, Salazar fucking Merlin - what the Hell was Kirley supposed to be doing to make this girl calm down? Holding - oh, right, holding her was a good start.
Gently, so as not to drop her or upset her further, Kirley picked Ana up and leaned her on his shoulder; ad libbing from there, he paced around Don’s flat, bouncing her gently and, with his free hand, rubbing her back.
“Sssssh, Ana, please just, ssssssh,” he crooned, rubbing his cheek against her tiny, blonde head. “Please shush up, please, your Da will kill me if he comes home and you’re crying.” Actually, Kirley rather doubted that, but he wasn’t perfectly sure. Don was a good father, which seemed to rule out murdering his best mate, but, if anything happened to Ana on Kirley’s watch, Kirley wouldn’t have been surprised by Don picking his daughter over his friend. Any good parent would have.
And Ana was still bloody screaming.
“Ana, please, please, please, please, please stop crying - Uncle Kirley can’t stand it when you cry. He hates seeing you sad, baby, he really does, so please, please, please just stop making so many noises - should we sing? I always forget your children’s songs, but I can make something up, or something - anything, just please stop - ow!”
Kirley had been so preoccupied with making Ana’s crying stop that he had, in fact, not noticed when she’d stopped. The only reason that he’d even stopped trying to comfort her was because he’d felt something yank at his hair. Lifting his head, he looked down at her incredulously and was met by her wide, small-toothed grin. There was still a tiny hand knotted in his hair, and she pulled again, getting another pained gasp out of him.
“Oi!” he groaned, gently coaxing her hand out of his hair. “Bloody… little lady, we have to get something straight. So let’s get it straight: we do not pull our godfather’s hair, okay? Uncle Kirley likes all his hair on his head.”
Clearly trying to test him, she put her hand into his hair and pulled on another clump of his hair.
“Oi! Ana! We don’t pull hair, okay? Especially Uncle Kirley’s hair.”
He was expecting another tug, but all he got was a little head nuzzling into his neck and sighing, “Kirley…”
“Why you conniving little… you know, when you go to Hogwarts, your Da’s gonna want you in his old House. But I bet you anything you end up in mine. Not even close to eleven yet, and you’re already a right little Slytherin.”
She nuzzled his neck again and sighed, “Mine. My Kirley.”
“’s right, little girl,” he said gently, kissing the top of her pretty blonde locks. “’m your Kirley. All yours.”
She answered him by yawning deeply, which was downright adorable, but just not on. Why did she go waking up if she just wanted to go back to sleep? And why did she have to go yawning at her poor, perpetually stressed godfather, who hadn’t slept well for the past two days? And why was the one hand whose thumb wasn’t presently being sucked upon pulling so desperately at his shirt? She yawned yet again, which prompted the same reaction from him. …Merlin, naptime for both of them sounded like a brilliant plan. …But what if she woke up, he didn’t, and Don came home and got rightfully hacked off at him for falling asleep while he was supposed to be watching Ana?
One look down at her answered that question right quick. The poor thing was already dosing off on his shoulder, placidly sucking on her thumb.
And he could be up before Don got home. Kirley trusted himself to do that much. Sighing warmly, and nuzzling the top of his goddaughter’s head in the process, Kirley sat down on the sofa and shifted into a sleeping position. Maybe she was too young to know it - though Kirley highly doubted that - but Ana really was the most adept person in the world at manipulating him… granted, it certainly helped her cause that Kirley was perfectly willing to be manipulated.