a/n: Happy New Year everyone! Hope y'all have a great one <3

“Baek?” The hesitance was evident, but her distinct urgency was alarming. His eyebrows furrowed in concern. It was a warm Saturday morning, and he knew Kira always slept in, but here she was calling him, which was also a rare occurrence.

“Is everything okay?” He was still, staring at the mug of steaming coffee in his right hand. He heard some shuffling, and it seemed like her phone fell from her hands. Then, he heard a cry.

“Kira?” His voice louder, grip on the mug stronger. 

“Sorry. I can’t explain now,” more shuffling and he could hear her shallow breaths, the source of the crying now closer to the phone. “But can you come over to my place? I really need- no, no. Don’t put that in your mouth!” It’s clear that she had a child with her, and Baekhyun’s face immediately flushed with excitement because he loved children.

“What do you need again?” He asked as he took quick sips so that he could be on his way.

“Just get here, please,” was all she said before ending the call, tone pleading, and he could imagine her face with her lips curved downwards and eyes less lively. He gulped down the coffee despite how his throat burned from how hot it was.

---

"Kitten?" The door was opened and he only got a glimpse of Kira's dishevelled state before she disappeared in a flash.

"Please take care of Rahee! I really need to pee," was the only thing she said to him before a door was slammed closed.

Baekhyun amusedly walked in, not forgetting to close the door, before heading straight to the couch where he could hear mumbles from a slightly nasally voice. The girl was seated, legs slightly crossed, eyes not leaving the screen even with a new presence.

"Hi Rahee-ah," he waved at her, immediately going on his knees to look at her better. "Are you watching Pororo?" He asked, as he took a look at the television. The girl's doe eyes blinked slowly, attention not spared for Baekhyun as they were very focused on the helmet-wearing penguin. He watched her, and outwardly cooed at how adorable she was. Her chubby cheeks were yelling at him to be pinched, and her meaty arms and legs screamed cute. He couldn't resist lightly pinching her right cheek, which did earn him a two second glance from Rahee, and Baekhyun's heart melted instantly. It was something about a child's eyes- so much innocence that it was hard to look away.

Baekhyun looked around her unit, noticing that Kira was taking a long time. He contemplated whether he should leave the child for a moment to check on her, but decided that that was a horrible idea since Kira had kept whatever she was keeping in her for so long just because she didn't want to leave Rahee alone.

He carefully picked her up, and was not surprised as she erupted in a cry. Baekhyun started soothingly caressing her back, swivelling his body rhythmically as he coaxed her with his honey-sweet voice. "Uncle Baek has to check on Aunt Kira because she’s taking so long. We'll watch Pororo again after that, yeah?" Rahee cutely blinked her eyes at the man and started to rub her fist on her eye. She didn't look pleased, but he could tell that was not keen on wailing her lungs out. He reached the front of the bathroom, and her cries had toned down to a sniffle every now and then which earned a kiss from Uncle Baekhyun and a tiny, satisfied smile painted her face.

"You okay, kitten?" He knocked twice on the door. The one and a half year old looked at the door, and then at him, but more particularly his hand. She turned to the door and reached out, prompting Baekhyun to look at her confusedly, but his chuckles were loud and clear right after she mimicked his action. Her knocks were barely audible, which made it very much more endearing.

"I'm okay, Baek," she called out, appearing from the door soon after. "Rahee," she immediately called out in exaggerated excitement, and the child enthusiastically squealed, no signs of her crying a few seconds ago as hands closed and opened at Kira.

"How long were you holding it in for?" Baekhyun eyed her up and down, clearly still laughing at the fact that she called him because she had to use the bathroom. She looked at him for the first time that day, eyes shining and relaxed. She wasn’t surprised that he was the only person she thought of for an extra hand, even though it wasn’t in her nature to trouble people, especially when that person lived half an hour away. And also the fact that she loved this man would have pushed away the thought of having him with her in the same four walls with no one around even further, but here he was in front of her, a child comfortably making incohorent mumbles in his hands, grinning at her all beautifully as if nothing else mattered.

Kira bit her lip and glanced at the girl who started poking her nose, tracing her finger down to her lips. "Three-four hours?" She let her play with her facial features, pretending to bite her finger which received some giggles that tickled her bones, dismissing the appalled boy completely.