❝ hollow moon — open . ❞

[STIRLING.]

#1b2763[align=center][div style="width: 430px; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 6pt; letter-spacing: 2.5px; word-spacing: 0px; line-height: 12px; color: #000"]Why did William have to do this?

He inhaled a long, slow breath as he tipped his chin up to stare at the ceiling. Oh, Lord have mercy on his oh-so alluring soul. Eyelids flitted shut, a drawn out sigh passing his lips as he ignored the sound of Charlotte whining. ❝ You... ❞ He grumbled, pausing for a moment before leaning over to look down at the toddler who stared up at him with her big blue eyes, urging for him to pick her up. He leaned in closer, squinting ever-so-slightly as he then mumbled quietly, ❝ You are the reason why birth control exists. ❞

Charlotte watched wordlessly for a second longer before she began giggling, nose scrunching up as she attempted to clap her hands together. ❝ Oh, you like that, huh? ❞ ❝ Uh, William..? ❞ He lifted his head up to see Henry standing in the doorway, holding baby Tommy in his arms. ❝ Tommy was in the hallway. ❞ ❝ Oh- ❞ Ah, he forgot that he was supposed to be babysitting two. It wasn’t like he could very well call Tommy back, though, right?

❝ Yeah, I knew that; freedom of movement, ya know? ❞ He waved a dismissive hand before leaning back in his seat. Henry’s eyes shifted around the room, the ten year old quiet as he then shuffled further into the room and placed Tommy on the couch next to William.

❝ What’s this for? ❞ Will questioned, brows bunching together as he looked at Tommy and then up to Henry. ❝ I think he’s tired. ❞ Henry pointed out hesitantly, gesturing towards the unsettled toddler before beginning to leave the room again. Another whine. Charlotte wriggling around before beginning to cry.

❝ Oh my God- ❞ He sighed with exasperation before beginning to shift through the fabric bag beside him, pulling out a pacifier. Then, he leaned forward and shoved the pacifier in Charlotte’s mouth. ❝ Shh... ❞ A weight began shifting onto the side of his lap, William leaning back to find Tommy laying down with his head on William’s lap. Will blinked, lip curling with distaste. This entire experience was gross. Remind him to never deal with children after this.

[freddie]

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— usually, the sound of some kid crying caused freddie to briskly turn and head the opposite direction. for a moment he entertained that thought, about ready to turn on his heels and wander away. however, the sound of someone sighing with exasperation, obviously not pleased with the situation as he said, “oh my god” in unamused exasperation-- it was enough to make him pause, only to start to chuckle to himself at the other man’s predicament. oh, he had to see this.

he wandered into the room, poking his head out from the doorway just to make sure he’d hurt correctly. sure enough, there will sat on the couch, looking disgusted with his current situation. fred laughed while he entered the room. ”you’re babysitting them?” he said it as if it was the last possible thing he would’ve seen coming from his brother; in some ways, it kind of was. neither of the brothers were the biggest fans of children, or particularly good with them either-- but will was actually far, far worse than fred though.

he crossed his arms over his chest. “how the hell did you get yourself caught up in this?” he wanted to feel sorry for the man. there were probably other things will would rather be doing - other things being.. literally anything else - than sitting around watching slobbery, whiny babies. he waited a moment before gesturing towards tommy, the kid’s head on his lap. “looks like he likes you.” oh wouldn’t will love that.

[STIRLING.]

#1b2763[align=center][div style="width: 430px; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 6pt; letter-spacing: 2.5px; word-spacing: 0px; line-height: 12px; color: #000"]Yeah, yeah - well done, Freddie. Laugh at the poor subjugated joke of a babysitter. William was so evidently forced to do this against his will; was that not clear enough? And now Freddie had to rub it in William’s face! Slowly, William’s brow twitched as he stared across at Freddie before shrugging and gesturing towards Charlotte. ❝ I’m about to kick this one across the room like a soccer ball. ❞ If it wasn’t for the fact that Freddie knew of William’s incredibly dark sense of humor, that comment could have come across as such a repulsive remark on his part (well… honestly it probably still was quite a terrible remark but this was William. He didn’t give a shit). But, in his defence, he wasn’t one to gladly enjoy babysitting - in fact, it was probably the worst job for him - but he couldn’t say anything once Eddie thrust the two children William’s way before stalking out the front door.

His shoulders slumped, a subtle scowl on his face as he glowered over towards his brother. ❝ I’ve been asking myself the same thing for the past hour. They’re fucking with my head. ❞ He jabbed his pointer finger against his temple, lip curling before sighing and dropping his hand again in defeat. ❝ Tom and Alf are on a patrol and big man Eddie thought that I would love to keep an eye on the wee ankle biters. Do you know all the things I could be doing right now? ❞ Brows raised as he complained. ❝ I could be- I could be, like- ❞ William hesitated. Well, actually he didn’t have anything better to do, but doing nothing was better than this. ❝ doing things… You know what I’m saying? ❞

Fred gestured towards little Tommy, William’s face falling as he stared, unimpressed. He liked Will? Well, William couldn’t care less. ❝ Ha ha - you’re hilarious. ❞ He was monotonous as he grumbled, looking down at Tommy as he slept peacefully before pointing at Freddie, ❝ Wait ‘til you gotta babysit them, you mother hen. ❞ He teased, raising his brows before noticing Charlotte slowly escaping. ❝ Oh, catch her, will you? ❞ William nodded towards the toddler before shaking his head slowly. This was chaos.

[freddie]

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— if laughing at will for being a babysitter was bad, laughing even harder as will talked about punting one of the children across the room surely didn’t look much better for him. ”god, you’re terrible.” where else did fred get his rather dark sense of humor but from his brother? he sobered after a moment, gesturing towards charlotte. “i don’t think she’d go very far. you might want to try it with the other one, instead.” jesus christ, fred, don’t egg the man on. he simply couldn’t help himself though. it wasn’t often that will would get left to babysit the kids.

to think he was going this crazy already and he’d only been left with them for an hour. imagine leaving him with the children for the day. for some reason fred thought that was so terribly amusing. there was nothing else better for will to do, but at the same time, will sitting around doing nothing was probably a better option than having him sitting there with tommy and charlotte to look after. “it must be killing you to have to pay attention to these kids instead of yourself.” was he hinting at will being a narcissist? maybe. was he completely wrong in making that remark, though?

he just couldn’t stop poking fun at the poor guy’s predicament. ”ha ha- you’re hilarious.” fred shrugged, as if it was something he already knew and fully believed himself - regardless of will’s monotonous tone. “wait ‘til you gotta babysit them, you mother hen.” he shifted his weight and shook his head, scrunching his face up briefly. “don’t think i’ll ever be that unlucky, sadly.” william nodded towards charlotte as she went about making her get-away. as much as he disliked children - mostly the tiny and slobbery ones - he still wandered over and picked her up. “i can’t blame you, charlotte,” he hummed as he scooped her up. “i’d be doing the same thing if i were you, too.” he grinned. what a shit he could be. he took the moment to wander over towards the sofa, deciding to plop down on the couch next to will and tommy, bouncing charlotte on his leg.

“i can’t help that i’m so naturally good at everything,” he said, while his lips were curled in slight disgust as charlotte reached towards him with slobbery, gross hands, leaning away from her.