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Eddie stared, frozen like movement would set her off. She could probably smell fear.
Jee-Yun stared back, head tilted slightly like something about Eddie confused her.
It had been a nice morning so far. Quiet and slow. Christopher was spending the week at a science camp he had begged to go to, and Eddie hadn't had work today. He had even slept in a little. He drank his coffee slowly as he read through some articles on his phone, and he had just started trying to figure out how he'd spend his day when Buck had walked in. Which was fine. Good, even. Spending time with his boyfriend sounded great. Then he'd noticed the three year old on Buck's hip.
Buck had set Jee on the couch as he babbled something about a leak in his loft and how he had to go handle it so could Eddie please watch his niece for a bit? Eddie, like an idiot, had nodded without thought. He was used to agreeing with Buck before he really knew what he was agreeing to, but in this situation he really wished he had taken a second to consider. Buck had beamed, kissed him and then pecked the top of Jee's head before he was off again.
It wasn't that Eddie didn't like Jee, or kids in general. She was a sweet girl, and he was alright with kids. But he didn't really have any experience with this age. He spent most of Christopher's toddler years in Afghanistan. Sure, he'd been around a few times when Buck had babysat her, but he had practically blended into the background. The little girl was obsessed with Buck, not that Eddie could blame her. It just meant that Eddie had never had to do much, since Buck was all too willing to play with her as long as she wanted him to. Eddie's role was usually just cleaning up after the two human whirlwinds.
Eddie cleared his throat, gave her a smile. "Did you eat breakfast?"
Jee-Yun shook her head, starting to kick her feet where they hung off the edge of the couch. She was holding a stuffed giraffe in her lap, something that Eddie could remember Buck picking out for her.
"What do you want?"
Her eyes lit up and Eddie knew it was the wrong question—too open-ended, probably. Giving kids too much freedom didn't always go well, did it? What did Buck usually do?
"Donuts!"
"Uh, I'm not sure if—" He couldn't remember how Maddie and Chim felt about sugar. Some parents were weird about that. Especially for breakfast. He was pretty sure they weren't, but what if he was just incredibly unobservant?
"Donuts," Jee repeated insistently, sliding off the couch. Her giraffe was clutched in one hand now. "Please." She looked up at him with those big brown eyes and that little pout that was definitely a Buckley trait. Then she went for the kill. "Pretty please, Uncle Eddie?" Fucking Buckleys.
"Sure," Eddie agreed with a sigh. Buck hadn't brought a car seat for her, but luckily there was a place within walking distance. It was like a twenty minute walk, but that would probably be fine. It at least would kill a good chunk of time. Which was good, because Eddie had no clue how to entertain a toddler. "It's a bit of a walk, though. That okay?"
Jee nodded eagerly, bouncing lightly on her toes. "I like walks." Eddie absently wondered if being puppy-esque was also a Buckley trait or if the toddler had just been spending too much time with her uncle Buck.
"You just gotta wait a few while I get ready." He was still in pajama pants, and his hair definitely needed taming. Jee heaved a dramatic sigh and leaned back against the couch, visibly impatient. "So just… stay." Eddie's tone was unsure, and the toddler looked thoroughly unamused. He glanced around the living room for potential hazards, but he was a first responder so everything felt like a potential hazard. Dios, how did Chim and Maddie survive this?
Something to keep her entertained would probably be a good idea, even if he only was gone a few minutes. He grabbed the remote and turned the TV on, navigating to kids shows on Netflix. He spotted The Magic School Bus and decided on that. That was a good call, surely. It was educational or something, wasn't it? A glance at Jee's expression showed that she looked even more disinterested in this show than she was with Eddie himself. Whatever. It was ten seconds in, she couldn't dislike it already.
"I'll be right back, just stay on the couch please?"
"Be fast?" Jee asked, her mind clearly still on the donut he'd promised her.
Eddie nodded and then headed down the hall to his room. He did in fact move quickly, terrified that the little girl would somehow get herself killed in the two-ish minutes he was gone. He changed quickly into some jeans and a t-shirt that he was pretty sure was actually Buck's, then skidded out into the hallway. In the bathroom, he made his hair a little more presentable and brushed his teeth for approximately thirty seconds before darting back to the living room.
Jee was still standing in front of the couch, leaned back against it and staring at the TV with the same unimpressed expression. Some of the tension leaked out of Eddie's shoulders at the sight. She didn't look happy, but she hadn't gotten herself hurt or destroyed anything, so it counted as a win so far. She perked up as soon as she saw him. "Donuts?"
"Yeah, now donuts," Eddie agreed. He turned the TV off and made sure he had his phone and wallet before he went over to the front door to slide some shoes on.
-
Donuts had been a bad idea.
Jee-Yun was impatient, which Eddie figured was typical of three year olds. He'd get impatient too if he was that small and had to wait on everyone else to do things for him. Especially when those people made up seemingly arbitrary 'rules' like waiting until they got home to eat their donuts. After approximately seven minutes and 43 seconds of pestering, Eddie had just given the kid her damn donut while they were walking. She'd shoved her giraffe at him for him to hold and then dug in.
By the time her donut was gone a few minutes later, her face and shirt were covered in the light pink strawberry frosting. He was certain there was more on her than had even been on the donut in the first place, even though that was obviously impossible. He started to rummage in the little paper bag for the napkins he thought he had grabbed. Then, Jee had spotted a dog in the little park they were walking by, and Eddie almost tripped over himself in his scramble to catch her. He scooped her up just in time.
"Jee, you can't just approach random dogs," he said, unable to help the little huff that escaped his lips. Jee was squirming in his arms, clearly not too interested in what he was saying.
"Don't worry, he's friendly," the dog's owner said with a smile. Jee-Yun stopped squirming and looked over her shoulder to give Eddie a look that was entirely too smug, like she had known that all along. Great. Here he was trying to teach the kid an important safety lesson, and this random woman was undermining it. "You can pet him if you like, he's great with kids."
Eddie eyed the dog—a mutt, maybe a pit bull mix?—suspiciously, but the dog was wagging his tail so hard it was moving his whole body. His graying face was doing the dog equivalent of a smile. Eddie set Jee down, watching closely as she let the dog sniff her palm and her face split into a wide grin.
"Aw, your daughter is adorable," the woman cooed. "How old is she?"
"My niece, actually," Eddie corrected with a polite smile. "She's three." He grabbed a napkin and grabbed one of Jee's hands to clean it—the dog was already licking some of the frosting off the other. Oops. At least it wasn't chocolate. Once both her hands were clean, Jee-Yun started to pet the dog's head as he sat in front of her. "Your dog is cute," he complimented a little lamely, feeling just a bit awkward. His niece was all over this woman's dog, the least he could do it make conversation.
"Thank you, his name's Thor," the woman said brightly. "I actually just adopted him a few months ago."
"I want a puppy," Jee told her before Eddie could speak. "But Mommy and Daddy said no."
"Well, a puppy is a lot of work," the woman told her. "Maybe when you're older."
Jee just shrugged, not too impressed with that answer. She pet Thor for a moment longer before pressing up on her toes to lean over and plant a kiss on the top of his head, and okay that was adorable. "Thank you lady," she said politely as she stepped back, waving a hand at the woman as she gave her a grin. The woman laughed easily and nodded.
"Any time, sweetheart. Thor loves to get loved on." She scratched behind the dog's ears as Eddie took Jee-Yun's hand again.
"Alright, let's get going," he said, smiling down at the little girl before nodding goodbye to the woman. They turned to continue on their walk, Eddie letting go of Jee's hand for a moment to grab the giraffe that he had hastily stuffed under his arm before. He took her hand again immediately after passing it to her though—he was not going to risk her running off again. Just because he could catch her didn't mean he wanted to have to.
It was only after they walked through Eddie's front door that the sugar rush seemed to hit. Eddie already knew she could be a little rambunctious sometimes, partially because she was a kid and partially because she was Chimney's kid specifically. Her energy suddenly seemed boundless, though. He still needed to clean the frosting from her face, but the second they walked in she was bounding towards the living room. Eddie figured she was just going for the TV, but instead she was looking around, going so far as to open the drawers of the end tables—which were just junk drawers he needed to clear out, full of takeout menus and pens and random batteries.
"Don't you have anything fun?" the three year old asked bluntly as she slid the drawer closed, looking up at Eddie with brows furrowed. "I wanna play!" An idea seemed to strike her then and her face lit up. She darted forward, slamming her hand into Eddie's thigh and shouting "Tag, you're it!" before taking off.
They played tag for forty-five minutes. It felt exceedingly long simply due to the repetitiveness of the game. But Jee would giggle every time she tagged him and ran away, and squeal with laughter every time she narrowly avoided being tagged. Eddie would've played for another hour if she wanted him to. Jee then suddenly wanted to play hide and seek, but Eddie vetoed that immediately. Last thing he needed was her crawling into some little corner and him not being able to find her.
"You could color," Eddie suggested, trying to get her to stop pouting at the fact that her suggested game had been denied. She did perk up a little at that, so he got some paper and some crayons that probably hadn't been used in years. He set her up at the coffee table, and grabbed the remote to put a movie on in the background. She insisted on Frozen, naturally. Eddie was sure he'd rather be shot again than watch Frozen, considering she requested it almost every time Buck babysat her. But how could he deny her?
A quarter of the way into the movie, Jee-Yun seemed to lose interest in coloring. She climbed up onto the couch next to Eddie, curling up and leaning into his side with her eyes trained on the TV. Less than ten minutes later, Eddie could hear her breathing even out, and a glance down showed she had fallen asleep. He all but melted.
When Buck finally came back, the credits were rolling and Eddie himself was starting to doze off. He heard Buck come in, but didn't open his eyes until he heard the sound of Buck snapping a picture on his phone. Eddie opened his eyes to shoot Buck a glare, but it melted away under the plain adoration in his boyfriend's eyes. "Get everything fixed?" Eddie asked in a whisper as Buck moved to join them on the couch. Eddie immediately leaned into him, relaxing against Buck's side as Buck slung his arm around his shoulders.
"Mostly," Buck answered in a soft hum. "Have fun being Uncle Eddie?" His tone was teasing, and Eddie could hear the grin in his voice. But he was cozy and didn't feel like moving to glare at him again. "Or was she too wild for you, old man?"
Eddie rolled his eyes—he wasn't even a full year older than Buck—then just let them close as he yawned. "'Course I had fun, I spent the whole morning with my favorite Buckley." He just grinned as Buck let out an indignant huff.