Snake let out a small sigh as he rang the doorbell, shoving a hand into his pocket, his duffle bag held in the other as he looked around at the small porch. It was decorated with all sorts of lights strung around the railing and roof. He was still slightly upset he had to babysit on Christmas Eve, but at least he was away from his annoying siblings. What made it worse was that he'd be here for New Years as well.
Soon the door was opened and a petite woman answered, a wide smile on her face. "Hello David!" Snake gave her a friendly smile.
"Howdy, Mrs. Jund." He greeted as she opened the door wider.
"Thank you for coming on such short notice, and the night before Christmas no less!" Snake just nodded as he shut the door behind himself, removing his shoes before following Mrs. Jund to the living room where the brat was. Sure, the kid wasn't terrible --Snake had had worse before-- but this was the only one who knew how to push all his buttons.
"Now Scott, be good for David while we're out." The boy crossed his arms as he sent a glare towards his mother.
"I'm fourteen, I don't need a babysitter!" Oh great, this was going to be a lovely week.
Mrs. Jund let out a sigh as she rubbed his shoulder. "Just... just listen to David, okay? We'll be back in a few days and we'll see if he thinks you can be left alone." Scott just rolled his eyes as he plopped back onto the couch, glaring at the floor. "Be good!" Mrs. Jund chirped as she and Mr. Jund made their way out of the house. Snake wandered over to the window and watched as they drove off, wondering how he'd last with the brat.
"Your bandana's stupid." Snake smirked slightly.
"Not as stupid as your hair."
"You're on steroids."
"At least I'm not a small shrimp like you."
"Bastard."
"Asshole."
.:.
Snake narrowed his eyes slightly as Scott pulled ahead of him in Mario Kart, unsure of how he managed that. "Hey, watch this!" Snake glanced over at the excited Scott before a flash of red came speeding towards his character, the red shell exploding him. He muttered a quiet 'fuck' as he moved from second to tenth in a matter of seconds. "Alright, that's another fuck up for you and another question I get to ask." Snake let out a small groan as he tried to just focus on the game, why did he have to agree to Scott's dumb rules?
"Fine, brat." Out of the corner of his eye he saw Scott grinning.
"How old are you?"
Snake glanced over at Scott, finding the question odd considering other questions he could have been asked. "Seventeen." Scott just nodded as his attention went back to the game, making Snake smirk slightly when he saw the faint blush on Scott's face. "Campbell, you're blushing." Scott's cheeks flushed more as he sent a glare at Snake.
"No I'm not! You're just blind!" Snake just rolled his eyes before letting out a loud curse, the brat had somehow lapped him! "Alright, hm, what's your sexual orientation?" Snake paused the game and turned to look at Scott.
"What?"
"You heard me!" There he went again, cheeks bright red.
"Why does it matter?"
"I, uh, just curious."
"I'm straight." Scott nodded.
"So am I, now unpause the game." Instead of complying and resuming the game, Snake just stared at Scott. "Start the damn game back up!"
"Why would you ask in the first place?" Scott fell silent as he looked away, tipping his head down.
"Just, let's just play the game." It caught Snake off guard on how downcast Scott looked and sounded. He let out a soft sigh as he unpaused the game, Scott returning to his normal self within a few minutes.
.:.
Snake set down his controller as he stretched his arms up, glancing at the clock. "Alright, I think it's time to head to bed." Scott let out a groan as he shook his head.
"No way, old man, it's Christmas Eve!" Snake gave a nod in understanding.
"I know, so the sooner you go to sleep the sooner you can open your presents." Scott shook his head, Snake narrowing his eyes as an idea popped into his head. He stood up and grabbed Scott, making the younger one stand before lifting up and putting him over his shoulder. "Hey! What the hell?! Put me down!" Snake simple ignored him as Scott pounded on his back, legs kicking.
Snake headed up the stairs, Scott still struggling to escape. Snake pushed the bedroom door open with his foot, heading over to the bed and throwing Scott on top. It was easy enough to cover the small boy, seeing as his bed wasn't made. He was glad he didn't have to force Scott to change clothes, the younger one was already in pyjamas.
"There, now go to bed." Snake let out a small yawn, internally groaning and just wanting to sleep as well.
"But I'm not-" Scott suddenly let out a yawn, Snake grinning in victory, "tired."
"That yawn says otherwise," Snake turned and headed to the door. "Good night, Jund."
He heard a mumbled "night Snake" as he left the room, looking back at Scott and already seeing him almost asleep. He smiled softly as he quietly closed the door and headed downstairs.
He moved to the couch and pulled out a binder from his duffel bag, he was still slightly upset he had homework over the break but oh well. He quickly glanced at the clock, reading 11:00 PM, okay, maybe it was a little early to send Scott to bed. Snake shook it off as he opened his textbook.
.:.
Snake's head shot up as a blood chilling scream came from upstairs. He swiftly got up and bolted up the stairs, flinging Scott's door open. He looked to the bed and saw Scott's body absent, but turned and saw Scott huddled up in the corner of his room.
The younger one had his face hidden away in his knees as his body shook. Snake headed over and kneeled down in front of him, worried greatly about Scott.
The shorter one suddenly latched himself to the surprised Snake, holding his arms tightly around Snake's neck as he sobbed into Snake's shoulder.
Snake gently began to rub soft circles into his back, murmuring calming words as he got more comfortable on the floor. He was sitting cross legged and Scott was seated on his lap.
"Shh, you're safe here." Snake suddenly got an idea. He gently stood up, holding Scott bridal style as he made his way downstairs. At this point, the shaking had stopped as well as most of the tears.
Snake made his way to the kitchen, gently setting Scott down on the counter as he moved to make two mugs of hot chocolate.
"Did you have a bad dream?" He glanced up and saw Scott nodding. "Wanna talk about it?" He hesitated but gave a nod in the end. "Just hold up, almost done with the drinks." Another silent nod as Snake pulled out a bag of mini marshmallows, removing the drinks from the microwave. "How many?"
Scott looked confused before he gave a small grin. "As high as you can count." Snake gave a nod as he dropped one marshmallow in.
"One." He paused and looked over at Scott.
"Oh come on! You can count higher than that!"
He dropped another one in. "Two." Scott let out a small giggle.
"Come on! More!" Snake suddenly dumped in eight more.
"Three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten." He shot the words out in rapid succession, Jund laughing loudly as he clutched his sides.
"F-four more, so then there's fourteen." Snake nodded as he grabbed four more marshmallows and plopped them in. "Now you have to put seventeen in yours!" Scott cheered, a lopsided grin in his face.
"Seventeen?!" Scott just nodded as he watched Snake grab a handful.
"One, two," Snake was surprised Scott was counting along with him, "three, four, five," he couldn't help but smile as Scott watched carefully, "six, seven, eight, nine, ten," Snake paused and looked up, meeting Scott's confused face. "Isn't ten enough?"
"No way, seven more!"
"Eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen!" Scott let out another loud laugh before covering his mouth, Snake let out a soft chuckle. He was glad to see Scott was at least feeling better after his bad dream.
"Lets go sit on the couch." Scott nodded and hopped of the counter, picking up his mug and taking the lead. Snake quickly grabbed his cup and following, moving ahead of Scott to push his binder out of the way.
"You have homework?" He asked, leaning forward to look at Snake's work.
"Yeah, we were told to complete it over break." Scott nodded as he moved back and leaned against the back of the couch, pulling his knees up to his chest as he took a sip from his mug. Snake leaned against the armrest of the couch, one leg stretched out and the other tucked under his other thigh.
"So, wanna talk about your dream?" He saw the hesitant look in Scott's eyes before the younger one gave a nod.
"I... you and me were playing a game when the phone rang, you got up and answered it. You came back with a smile on your face as you bluntly told me my parents died in an accident." Scott started shaking again, Snake quickly taking his and Scott's mugs and setting them down on the coffee table. He slid over and pulled Scott into a soft hug, the younger of the two holding onto him tightly. "Y-you wouldn't stop teasing m-me about it, then you turned into some horrible mo-monster."
Snake began to rub soft circles on Scott's back, holding him a little closer. "I would never hurt you like that, never." Scott nodded into his chest as they sat there, Snake resisting the urge to run his hand through Scott's hair.
"Do you play any instruments?" Asked Scott quietly, Snake looking down and meeting soft brown eyes.
"Yeah, piano, guitar, and flute." Scott eyes widened slightly before he bolted up and ran off to the stairs, returning quickly with an acoustic guitar.
"I'm not really good at it yet, but if you can play three different things, you must be good!" Snake gave a soft smile as he took the guitar and looked it over, surprised to find it was in extremely good condition.
"Any requests?"
Scott scrunched up his nose as he thought for a moment. "I'm learning a song from Bastion." Snake perked up slightly, he knew of the game?
"Which one?"
"Mother, I'm Here. I can sing if you can play." Snake gave a small nod as he tuned the guitar, strumming a few times to make sure it was right. He straightened out his back as he began to play the notes he knew so well.
"I set my sail," Snake was slightly shocked, he never thought Scott could sing, "fly the wind it will take me, back to my home, sweet home. Lie on my back, clouds are making way for me, I'm coming home, sweet home." Snake give Scott a reassuring smile as the younger one looked up at him, a small smile being returned.
"I see your star, you left it burning for me, mother, I'm here. Eyes open wide, feel your heart and it's glowing. I'm welcome home, sweet home."
Snake took a deep breath, unsure of his next actions. "I take your hand," Scott froze when Snake began to sing along, giving a small grin as he moved and sat next to Snake, "now you'll never be lonely, not when I'm home, sweet home. I see your star, you left it burning for me. Mother, I'm here." Snake looked over at Scott, their eyes meeting as they held soft smiles on their faces.
Scott was the first to realize how close they were, abruptly getting up and taking his guitar from Snake. "Uh, well, th-that was nice, but I should go to bed." He blinked a few times before looking away and nodded to the shorter one.
"Alright, see you in the morning, Campbell."
"It already is morning, dumbass." Snake rolled his eyes as he gave Scott a small shove.
"Go to bed, brat." As Scott made his way upstairs with his guitar in tow, Snake looked at the clock. "Shit, it's three in the morning already?" He let out a small sigh before getting up and taking his duffle bag to the guest room, changing into pyjamas before slipping under the covers.
He couldn't stop thinking about what happened moments before, a small smile on his face before he scowled and shook it away. "I'm his babysitter, not his boyfriend. I'm not gay," he paused his quiet rant as he glanced at the digital clock by the bed before shaking his head, "no, there's no way I could possibly like Jund like that." With a small nod in agreement to himself, he rolled over and closed his eyes.