~Duck

53. Heechul & Donghae

Heechul was counting backwards from ten, slowly inhaling from his nose and exhaling from his mouth.

Kim Heechul, get your together! You can do this!

Repeating the process a couple of times more, he then opened his eyes to observe the horror around him. Coloured crayons were tossed on the kitchen´s carpet after being violently used onto the innocent and -more importantly- previously clean walls and cupboards. What looked like a scene taken out of Jurassic Park was now drawn clumsily all over the room, with pterodactyls spreading their wings across the fridge and T-Rexs glaring menacingly the parrot in its cage, sketched directly behind it. The poor bird had shut up after Heechul's shrieks about snotty brats and what not...

"Who the was it that suggested babysitting was a great way to earn money?" he growled as he tip-toed around a massive toy-brick castle and a half-eaten bowl of cookies - crumbs and bits of chocolate everywhere but inside the bowl... Conscious that the whining midget might be around to listen and repeat later on his curses, the teenager zipped his lips, killing Yesung in his mind instead.

"Death by a pack of frenzied lemmings... suits him well..."

He tore some sheets of paper towel, letting them fall and soak on an unidentified stain next to the dining table.

"Samchon!" called a shrill voice from somewhere in the house, and Heechul felt a muscle twitch above his eye.

"Coming, you walking disaster..."

He mumbled the last words as he hurried to discover where the kid he was looking after was hiding.

"Donghae?" he yelled, and that voice sounded again.

"I´m up here!"

Grimacing at the sing-songing, the teenager stomped his feet up the stairs, following the trail of mess the hyperactive menace had oh-so-kindly left behind. He eyed the pile Donghae had made out of bundles of socks and his fish plushies in a circle around it, and hopped over the rows of Hot-wheels aligned before the laundry room.

"Where are y— OH, HELL TO THE NO!"

Heechul froze as he turned to the hallway, coming face to face with the five-year-old boy. Or better, with the imprints of his tiny hands on the walls created by his paints, and Donghae himself standing shirtless and wiping his green-coated hands on his tummy. His red t-shirt was tied around his neck in an attempt to resemble Superman, and there were black lines marking his cheeks, probably resembling Naruto.

"Hi~" spoke the kid and grinned toothlessly, waving a chubby hand at the elder. He was gripping what looked awfully like his mother´s eyeliner. Ah, so the Naruto whiskers were...

"You..." hissed Heechul and stalked closer, narrowing his eyes at the toddler and outstretching his hand. "Give that to me, your mommy is going to be very angry."

Donghae blinked at him and then pouted. "No."

"Donghae, I said something."

The little boy giggled and hid the pen behind his back. "T-Rex ate it!"

Heechul sighed and ran a hand through his tangled hair.

"Alright, you choose the hard way then."

He lunged at the boy, catching him and plopping him on his shoulders. Little Donghae yelled ecstatically, dropping the eyeliner to fist Heechul's hair.

"Go horsey! Go!" he urged and bounced dangerously, pulling at his babysitter's hair with a strength a five-year-old should be against nature to possess. Heechul bit his lip to hold the curse threatening to spill and skipped to the bathroom in order to please the brat and his cowboy dreams.

"Okay, it's bath time."

Reaching to put Donghae down, he released a painful yelp as the kid locked his arms around his neck, his nails scratching his ears.

"No! Horsey-Chul must run! We must save the Wild West!"

"If you don't cooperate, I swear I'll turn wilder than any ing west!" shrieked the teenager, and Donghae gasped, stilling on his shoulders.

"Bad word! You can't say that!"

A tiny palm landed on his cheek, followed by a giggle and a cry of "Pat, pat pat!". Both tiny palms landed on his cheeks repeatedly as Donghae had just devised a new exciting game.

"YAH!"

Grabbing the kid, Heechul tore him off himself, in a flash undressing and placing him on the bathtub.

"Stay here," he panted hard and turned the tap to warm temperature.

"I wanna play!"

"You will play! Shu— Stay quiet!"

Heechul searched left and right, finally spotting some rubber toys on a small shelf. Letting the water to flow and fill the bathtub, he quickly scrubbed Donghae while threatening him to throw away his favourite cereals if he made a mess with the foam. When the water reached a safe level, he dropped the toys inside. A small boat, a turtle, a duck, a clown fish and a small ball splashed drops all over but Heechul was too tired to care anymore.

"Here, play," he instructed Donghae, who clapped his hands and laughed as he sat on the bathtub. The water was barely above his hips as he was sitting playing, but that didn't stop him from plotting the world's biggest battle.

"Captain Duck's ship is fighting the Evil Turtle!" he passionately described, his stubby fingers wrapped around the toys.

"Oh, you can drown the turtle, I don't mind..." murmured Heechul and kneeled beside the bathtub to watch over the boy. Donghae flashed his toothless grin once again, reminding Heechul why he kept babysitting him; even if he always said every time was the last time doing so. Every Thursday and Friday he was ringing the doorbell, an excited Donghae tackling him the moment Mrs. Lee opened the door. Ruffling the kid's wet brown hair, Heechul smiled affectionately, taking the role of the Evil Turtle in order for the battle to be more fun.

ah~ Heechul and Kangin were adorable with that little kid in "Return of Superman"'s latest episode >< Hence the theme :)