“You’ll be fine, they said.” Sooyoung grumbled in a mock drawl as she sat on the couch, her legs crossed under her to keep away from the two pairs of grabby little hands coated in baby spittle and whatever else the little tykes had managed to stick their hands into. She was currently observing the two tykes conversing in a mix of broken English and baby talk that only they seem to understand. It was mostly Yoona doing the talking while the younger babe drooled on the wooden letter cube she was fiddling with. Sooyoung wondered why buy the cubes when both babies can’t even read yet. The only thing they’ve done was to chew on it or throw it at random directions for absolutely no reason.

“It’ll be fun, they said.” She continued, sighing as she leaned her chin against one propped up arm, intermittently switching from watching the playing children to the tv broadcasting the weather. Yesterday the weatherman had said the day would have bouts of spring rain. The sun shining brightly and the clear blue skies behind the drawn curtains disagree. The weatherman couldn’t tell rain if it was pouring right in front of him.

Sooyoung sighs as she topples to her side, her eyes lazily blurring her surroundings. She was beginning to think the sly werewolf knew the day would be sunny and had planned the late afternoon out with the rest of the parents and left her to babysit.

Then she idly wondered if she was their number one choice. If she was, they must be crazy.

To be fair, a fairy looking after baby hybrids doesn’t sound so bad. Fairies are empathetic, yes, logically they were the best choice for looking after children. But they didn’t put into account that Sooyoung had never been close to babies. It was a rare occasion for her to be close to children with her work in the call centre. To suddenly her into a babysitting gig… this was a disaster waiting to happen.

Why did she agree to this?

Fairy Queen Tiffany asked her, yes, but the promise of an all you can eat dessert bar had shut off her logic and an affirmative answer was out of her lips before anyone could say cake. It is hard for a fairy to turn away from sweets. How Queen Tiffany is unaffected too much mystifies Sooyoung even to this day.

A loud wail had Sooyoung tumbling off the couch in surprise. Gritting her teeth in pain her narrowed eyes shoot to the two babies on the floor. The bigger of the two, the little imp, had lain on top of the crying girl, sadistically laughing in delight at the reaction she had gotten out of her junior.

Sooyoung sighs as she shuffles over in all four, grabbing the elder by her armpits and pulling her up and away from the youngest. The girl squeals in delight at what she thinks is play time. The fairy looks over the wailing child for any signs of serious injury and fortunately, aside from the wailing, the little babe looked as normal as a baby could. She relaxes somewhat and turns her attention to the little troublemaker. The little one has her innocent doe eyes curiously looking at Sooyoung, awaiting the next bout of adrenaline rush from the game that’s reminiscent of the one her mother plays with her when she returns home.

Sooyoung, seeing the excitement in her eyes, scoffs.

“You are so much like your mothers.” She lowers baby Yoona to her feet, the baby gurgling and lifting her hands up to be picked up again only further infuriates Sooyoung. “So much like your mothers. Look what you did to Seohyun.” She points to the wailing child, as if expecting the little devil to understand empathy when just a few seconds earlier she was giggling at making the younger one cry. She rolls her eyes and switches her attention to the youngest.

Her hands hoover uncertainly over her, her lips curling into a frown when the little one continued crying. “Okay, Seohyun, urgh… what does your mother call you again? Baby girl?... No, that’s Yoona.. Oh! Princess! Princess, stop crying… please.”

She lifted baby Seohyun, trying to get her to sit up, but the youngest would have none of it. Her wailings intensified as she looked around the room in search for either of her mothers. When they don’t pop out from the corners, as she was accustomed to their response, her face grows a deeper shade of red and she opens wider and shouts with all her little lungs could manage.

“Gods of old, have mercy! Don’t you have a stop button?” Sooyoung hisses as she flips her over, even going as far as turning her upside down to see if it’ll have the same effects as it does with Yoona. It doesn’t.

“Stop! Stop crying.” She gently lays Seohyun on her back, patting her legs and her tummy in another attempt to try and calm her down. It’s only when Seohyun’s face scrunches and turns a darker red that Sooyoung starts to sweat. “Ok! Ican’tdealwiththis!Ican’tdealwiththis!”

Her upper body flies towards the couch, fingers wrapping around her phone and she rings the first person on speed dial. She returned to patting the chubby leg, agitatedly waiting for the line to connect.

“She’s crying, what do I do?” Sooyoung wails into her phone the moment the line clicks to life. She freezes when Seohyun’s wailings abruptly stop, still wide open, and only breathes out when the sound returns full force.

“Hello to you too, Sooyoung.” Came the monotonous response.

“Yeah. Hi, Sunny. Look, I know you’ve got work but you remember I told you I’m babysitting today? Yeah, I really don’t know how to deal with babies so please don’t hang up. I’ve never been around babies. I need help. She’s crying and turning really red, and I thought I broke her for a second there.. What do I do?!”

“What do you mean you-” Sunny cuts off her question with a weary sigh. “Nevermind, just… go comfort her.”

“Well, how do I do that?!” Sooyoung was very close to having a panic attack. She wouldn’t have called Sunny if she knew how. That was the whole point of calling.

“Hug her.” Came the exasperated response.

“Hug? I-I” Sooyoung hovered over Seohyun, wondering at which angle was safest to approach the baby girl. She doesn’t seem to want to stand anytime soon and her head only lolls back in what looked to be an uncomfortable angle when picked up. “Do-do I… lie down?”

“Oh my God…” Sunny groans from the other end. “Look, I’ll be done in 15. Text me the address and I’ll head over there. Just.. sit tight and make sure the kid doesn’t hit her head on anything.”

“Okay. Okay, I-I..”Sooyoung’s voice trailed off, her eyes frantically going over the space of the living room in search of the little troublemaker. “Oh, God.”

“Sooyoung… I’m afraid to ask, but what happened?”

“I gotta go, Sun. I’ll see you in a bit, yeah? Crap, I can’t leave her right there..”

“Soo-” Sooyoung cut off the call, stuffing her phone in her back pocket as she laid flat on her stomach beside the crying child.

“Hey,” she prodded Seohyun’s side. “Hey, stop crying. I’m sure Yoona didn’t mean that..” Lies. She’s sure the little brat meant it, little troublemaker had her mothers’ genes after all. She lifted herself in an awkward yoga pose and peered at the space between the two couches hoping to see the little imp stumble past on her chubby legs. She feels her heart sink a little more when she doesn’t even hear the soft pattering of her baby feet.

Jessica was going to have her head if she lost her daughter.

“Sunny!” Sooyoung breezed across the hallway, flinging the door open and engulfing the shocked girl in a tight embrace. “Thank God you’re here!”

“Yeah, yeah.” Sunny briefly closes her arms around Sooyoung for what seems more like a quick pat than a hug before prying Sooyoung’s long limbs off her. She surveyed the foyer, checking behind Sooyoung for any signs of the baby she was looking after. The place seems too quiet for her liking.

She began to take off her shoes, nudging them to the side where the rest of the shoes were stacked up on the small shoe rack. “So, where’s the kid, Sooyoung.”

Sooyoung’s eyes flashed. “Right!” She squeaked, paused to clear before trying again, her voice a little more controlled. “Right, the babies…”

“Whoa! Wait!” Sunny backtracked, held a hand up to stop Sooyoung from talking any further. “Babies? Plural? As in… more than one?”

Sooyoung’s face scrunches in annoyance, taking Sunny’s question as a form of belittling her knowledge on the human vocabulary. She had stayed in the human realm for so long, cutting back on using her precious magic that she was beginning to feel like a mundane old human with their tedious routine. She would not stay quiet to her friend’s constant nit-picking of her words. “Yes, I’m pretty sure two little baby turns the word to babies. I’m not an idiot.” She sarcastically mutters, much to Sunny’s surprise.

“Anyway, I managed to make Seohyun stop crying and found Yoona nibbling on those tasteless baby crackers… and so, while waiting for you, I thought it would be safe to play hide-and-seek. I mean, they’re babies. How hard is it to find them..”

“I’m almost afraid to ask but.. how’s that going?”

“I-ah… I think…” Sooyoung took a glance behind her, a hand nervously brushing back her hair, irritation forgotten. “I sorta, kinda… can’t find them.”

“What?! Sooyoung!” Sunny turns her back to the tall fairy, speed walking to the first open space to begin her search for the babies. “I thought I told you to keep an eye on them.”

“No, you said to sit tight and make sure they don’t hit their heads.”

“Yes. That meant keeping your eyes on the kid- kids! Christ, Sooyoung!” Sunny sighed, slapping one side of her head at the cluelessness of the fairy. “Okay, look, the apartment isn’t that big. They’ve got to be here somewhere. So.. split up?”

“Oh, thank God you’re here!” Sooyoung rushed over to her flatmate, grabbing the unsuspecting girl by the waist and pulled her into a well-meaning embrace. “You are a lifesaver, I mean really.. If I lose either one of those kids they’re going to serve my head on a platter. I’m too young and beautiful to have my life end right here.”

Sunny, her face turning a bright shade of red, awkwardly patted the arms securely locked around her. She decides to ignore the possibility of one of Sooyoung’s friends being powerful enough to scare the fairy like that, for now. “It-it’s fine. Just.. go- go look over that side. I’ll start here and work my way back. Don’t leave any space unchecked.”

And, mimicking the various reruns of comedy skits Sooyoung had been watching for the past years, the tall girl straightened her back in attention, dominant hand coming up for a stiff salute before rushing to the farthest room. Sunny shook her head at the silly fairy.

“Right.” Sunny muttered to herself as she rounded the kitchen. Her eyes scanned the top cabinets, immediately shaking her head at the ridiculousness. Babies couldn’t possibly climb their way to those areas. Ignoring anything higher than her waistline she began her search. Every large cupboard was pulled open, large items moved to the side in hopes to get a glimpse of skin or hear the tell-tale garbled baby babble. Not even the rubbish bin was spared as she removes the flip lid off and set in on the counter. When she finds no signs of life she quickly moves to the adjacent dining room, pulling every single chair back and checking under them, then to the living room, nearly tossing everything as she went.

Worry began to settle in her stomach when still the place remains silent, the only other sound aside from her breathing was the muffled sound of Sooyoung’s search. It was too silent to house two babies.

She’s startled out of her thoughts when Sooyoung bursts out of the room she had just been searching, her face looking desperately at Sunny’s. Fixing the throw pillow she had in hand back to its place she shook her head. Sooyoung’s shoulders visibly fell as her head turned to the last door.

Sunny notes the hesitant steps Sooyoung takes as she neared the last door. It had seemed like she was afraid of opening the door and finding what was held within its walls. Sunny shook her head as she walked over, beating Sooyoung’s hand in reaching for the knob. One sure twist and a soft shove and the door gave way easily.

“What is your problem?” Sunny gritted out when she felt the taller woman clutch at her shoulder, using her as a shield for whatever laid behind the door. She was effectively scarring her with her actions.

“We-we-we’re n-not sup-p-p-posed to go i-in-into this room.” Sooyoung stuttered.

Sunny took a worried look at Sooyoung’s cowering form, then to the dark interior of the room. She as almost afraid to ask, but her curiosity naturally pushed the question out. “Why?”

“Because!” Sooyong squeaked. “It’s Jessica’s per-personal space. It’s where she puts all of- of- of her things and…”

Sooyoung’s eyes widened in terror as she skids around Sunny’s frozen body, boldly pushing past the doors while screaming the children’s names. The light flickered on, and what little Sunny could see turned her fright into confusion. Sooyoung was frantically going through a shelf containing a number of bottles housing colourful liquids. What was the big deal?

She poked her head in, letting her eyes roam over the cramp looking space. A huge table was pushed down the farthest corner, a number of books haphazardly piled around the edges of the table. It was the large shelves that lined nearly the whole room that made the space a little claustrophobic, with various jars on one side and a number of bottles that contained different kinds of liquids on the other. There was no sign of the babies though, so why was Sooyoung so uppity about it.

Sunny shook her head as she backed out. She wasn’t claustrophobic but she was afraid of possibly getting buried in whatever those glasses housed as Sooyoung continued her frantic movements.

A soft giggle has her ears perk to attention. Her head snapped to where she thought the sound came from, holding her breath as she listened for another. She wondered if it was all just her imagination, but the giggle started to sound a little louder and lasted a little longer. She looked over to Sooyoung’s frazzled movements, the fairly looking close to tearing her hair out, and decides to investigate the sounds on her own. The quicker she finds the two babies the quicker Sooyoung goes back to the oblivious, carefree fairy she is. Or, at least, one that doesn’t look like she was on the verge of a nervous meltdown.

The soft giggles lead her back to the wide interconnected common room and narrowed her search. She strains her ears but the place had fallen back into silence. She makes a quick rundown of the open living room and deciding that the children, no matter how small they are, couldn’t have tumbled around behind them without being caught. She sets her sights to the only place they could possibly be.

Her eyes scan the kitchen for any signs of life. Everything looked exactly as she had left it as far as she can remember.

She starts pulling back the first cabinet she could reach, going down on her knees to give the place a proper search. It’s while she was preparing to move to the next cabinet that she heard it again, the unmistakable giggle of a child. But she must have heard wrong. Because the laugh, it came from right above her. She looked up at the overhead cabinet then down to the surface of the tabletop. When she stood her forehead just barely reached the bottom of the cabinet.

Mentally, she was laughing at the thought of two itty bitty little babies winding up in one of the high cupboards, giggling as they wait for someone to pop open the doors to find them. It was impossible.

She throws a look over to the door where she could still hear Sooyoung bustling about. She lifted a hand, wrapping her fingers around the small knob. All she needed to do was pull the door open and see for herself how stupid that thought was.

The little babies couldn’t have climbed their way into the cupboard.

Right?

She pulled open the cupboard and gasps at the glowing golden eyes and the sharp canines grinning right back at her.

“Oh my… Sooyoung!!”

“Why is it that everyone’s trying to put this blanket over me?” Sunny pulled at the cloth, tugging it so it fell from her quaking shoulder.

Tiffany smiles patiently at her, reaching for the blanket to carefully reposition it over Sunny’s back. She squeezes Sunny’s shoulder for good measure. “Honey, you’re in shock.”

Sunny’s face screws up as she, once again, shrugs the blanket off her. “I know that. But I don’t need a blanket. What I really need right now is booze.” She presses a hand against her forehead, applying pressure in between her brows as she took a shaky breath. “I need a lot of booze.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t allow that with the kids just another room over.” Tiffany pats her head sympathetically. She takes the vacant space beside Sunny, gently running her hand over the shorter girl’s back in her hopes to calm her down. “It’s been a while since I last saw you.”

Sunny wheezed a short string of laughter. “I honestly thought I’d never see you again, erm.. your highness. Sooyoung never really mentioned you again after that last time. I thought you went back to your…  realm?” She a brow questioningly, continuing unsurely when Tiffany doesn’t correct her. “to do some.. Queenly business.” She receives an amused look at the poor choice of words but isn’t rebutted and she sighs in relief when her skin doesn’t turn another shade or grow weird things around her.

“I think she was trying to keep you away from us. She’s really thoughtful, you know. She mentioned your apprehension of the idea of magic. I bet she went out of her way to fit into your customs. That’s just like her. Very considerate and she doesn’t make it obvious.”

“Oh..” Sunny murmured, lowering her eyes when she feels the guilt pinching at her chest. She hadn’t thought of it that way. She had only thought Sooyoung was just a troublesome fairy, so pathetically oblivious to electronics except for the computer and the phone. As amusing as it was to watch the tall woman struggle with even cooking a proper scrambled eggs Sunny had been constantly nagging at her for the various other things, not even bothering to explain why she found it frustrating. She had picked up Sooyoung’s lack of magicing things but never really brought it up with the fairy, not even to thank her for trying.

“I do have to apologise on everyone’s behalf for the surprise you saw.” Tiffany says as she fixes the blanket over Sunny’s shoulder. The latter represses the urge to roll her eyes at Tiffany’s action and grudgingly leaves the pink cloth alone, for now. “And please, just Tiffany is fine, I’ve long left that lifestyle behind.”

“Oh..” Sunny’s eyes trailed to the baby room, looking completive as she mentally debated whether to ask. Despite her disproval of Sooyoung’s magic randomly acting up, she was still curious about the hidden magical side of the world, like their rules and all. There was no way a sane person wouldn’t jump at the chance at a huge discovery like that. Though she wouldn’t show it, she was curious about the hidden world. Also, she needed to be careful what with her flatmate having a number of… special friends. The last thing she wanted was to wake up with some sort of curse.

“Is it because of your baby?”

Tiffany followed her gaze, a soft smile pulling at her lips. “Among others,” she shook her head. “I’ve left a long time ago. It just seems that the rest of the fairies refuses to accept my decision and continues to call me by the title. I’m not even the Queen. My mother is.”

“Wouldn’t that cause problem for you? Being from royalty and all.”

“It’s fine. My parents are still ruling after the kingdom, and when they do step down my brother or sister can do well enough without me. They don’t really need me there.”

“Oh… that’s.. good?” Sunny asked hesitantly. As far as she knows, from all the history books, sibling rivalry tends to go out of control, especially for a seat in the crown. It was concerning how much backstabbing’s you’d get once in a seat of power.

“It’s great!” Tiffany chirps, presenting her with a wide grin.

A second later her grin falters when she sees Sunny visibly flinch and had her eyes snapping to the floor. Worriedly she shifted to rearrange the blanket tighter around Sunny, hoping to warm the girl faster and ease her troubled mind. “Are you alright? Does anything hurt?”

“Ah, no. I’m– I’m fine.” Sunny croaks. She could still feel Tiffany’s eyes on her, and the distant memory of losing her mind at the bright smile the fairy had bestowed upon her once upon a time strengthened her conviction of not meeting those expressive eyes.

“Are you sure?” Tiffany softly prods, her worry for the small human escalating.

“I’ll be- I’m fine. Just being careful.”

Tiffany stares for a few seconds longer before shrugging her shoulder and muttering a soft “okay” she reaches for Sunny’s hand, squeezing them in her own. “If you need anything, anything at all..”

A sudden loud wail catches both their attention. On instinct, Tiffany half rises from her seat, looking just a little bit worried. She chuckles when their eyes meet and she was about to sit back down when another wail harmonizes with the first- closely followed by laughter, catches their hearing. She sighs, shaking her head as she rises from her seat and makes her way to the nursery to placate her wailing child and her equally wailing partner.

Sunny takes the opportunity to shrug the blanket off her shoulder. Honestly, the blanket was not helping. It was making her too hot.

“On a scale of one to ten, how badly do you want to murder me right now?” She looks up to be greeted to the guilty face of one troublesome flatmate. The fairy had her head down, hands clasped behind her back making her look even more like the guilty party she is. Just as she should, Sunny bitterly thinks.

She fixes her the best menacing glare she could manage. “At least in the twenties.” She hisses. Sending the nursery’s open door a weary glance she continues. “Why didn’t you tell me they were magical babies?”

Sooyoung fidgets on her spot. She doesn’t attempt to take the free space beside Sunny. Sunny’s sure as hell wouldn’t let the troublesome fairy sit if she tried. So she hardens her glare, mentally giving herself a pat on the back when Sooyoung’s eyes dart to the floor. Good, she wanted the fairy to feel nervous.

“I.. I  kinda thought you knew. I mean, I don’t really know a lot of parents.”

“I didn’t know that! You work at a call centre! How the hell am I supposed to know whose children they were?”

“W-well… we didn’t expect them to show any of their traits this early. Them being half of each parent we didn’t know which gene was more dominant. Though apparently being a troublemaker is the most dominant one. What was the saying? The little tyke’s a chip off the old block.” Sooyoung pulls a small grin. It drops a second later when Sunny snorts at her lame excuse of getting out of trouble.

“I’m sorry. I’m in your debt.” Sooyoung does an exaggeratedly low bow, her head almost slamming against the edge of the coffee table that was separating them. It was just something tiny, something Sunny quickly shoved to the deepest part of her mind the moment she felt it, the tight gripping sensation that took hold of her heart for that whole second she thought the fairy would hit her head. She was not worried. Not for the obnoxiously loud, and blissfully oblivious fairy.

“Whatever.” She harrumphs.

Her eyes then fly to Tiffany as she exits the room, closely being tailed by a shorter female making funny faces behind her. Her sights focus onto the little baby in her arms. The soft gurgling laughter as the baby tries to reach for the shorter woman turns the frown on her face upside down. She meets Tiffany’s smiling eyes and is struck at how serene they looked, way more than what she has ever seen during the few times she’s seen the woman, like she had found that something that made her life complete.

“Aren’t they just the cutest pair?”

“Hm?” Sunny breaks her gaze from the small family back to the fairy before her. Sooyoung’s body language had switched to what Sunny could only closely compare to swooning. Oh, how she wanted to hurl at the stupid grin on her face.

“I’ve always wanted something like that.”

“What? A baby?” Sunny asks frowning. After the woman lost two babies, one of them twice in a day, Sunny doubts a baby is something the fairy should want the way she is now. “ I don’t think you’re quite ready for that.”

Sooyoung shakes her head softly, her eyes still focused on the three beings in the kitchen. “Not that.. well, not yet, maybe... I meant to find my partner. To find the one who’s willing to live the rest of their lives with me. Someone who’s eager to share all their experiences and feelings, both the good and the bad, with me. To one day wake up feeling whole with the one I love.” Her soft eyes move down to meet Sunny’s and the latter had to turn her head away.

“Jesus, Sooyoung, I didn’t peg you to be the hopeless romantic.” Sunny grumbles in hopes to ease the sudden heat crawling up her neck. A soft laugh is what she gets.

“It’s a pipe dream of mine. Ah, look at me, blabbering like an old woman. Maybe my age is catching up to me…”she sighs, ruffling her hair. “or maybe that’s just my stomach talking. Looking after energetic babies sure gave me the munchies. Want to get out of here and grab some pizza?”

Sunny grins, shaking her head at the sudden change of topic. Of course, Sooyoung would think of food next. “Only if you’re paying.”

“I owe you at least that.”