it had only been two hours. marcus was on the floor bawling as brendon sprinted around the toy obstacle course of an apartment like a madman.
"i'm sorry! please stop it! do you want - fuck!-" pain shot through brendons foot as he stepped on a small toy, "a snack or something?"
he had been zoned out and texting his friends, not noticing the child's absence until he had ran back in and slipped on a coloring book. an ear-splitting cry immediately came from the toddler, quickly turning into a loud and constant sob.
brendon quickly made way into the kitchen, trying to drown out the wailing as he rummaged through the cabinets. eventually, a pack of goldfish tumbled out and hit him in the head.
"perfect." he muttered to himself, dashing back out into the living room.
it was quite shocking to brendon when his offering of the snack was rejected, marcus crying harder and holding his head.
"owie!" the boy cried, looking at brendon with watery eyes. brendon sighed and sat next to the boy, lost at what to do. the answer was clear as day, soothe him, but the older couldn't soothe much past offering a snack.
like previously mentioned, he was in it for the $35.
pulling out his phone, brendon got 'resourceful', googling how to console a sobbing three year old. a list of mom-sites popped up. most said something along the lines of 'hold them!' or 'play with them!', so brendon did exactly that. or at least he tried to.
as the distressed three year old buried his snotty face in brendons shirt, another surge of panic hit the man as his phone started buzzing.
'incoming call: ryan (babysitting dude)!'
"sshhhhhhhh, take this," brendon said softly, grabbing the boys stuffed dog, "i need you to hush". marcus sniffled and clutched the dog's floppy ears, holding it between the pair.
"puppy."
"that's right." the older replied, quickly answering his phone, "hello?"
"hey! i'm on break right now, figured it would be a great time to check in." ryan said on the other end, leaned against a brick wall outside.
"oh! everything's great over here! c-marcus, he's a riot, that kid!"
"sure is. i hope he hasn't bitten you yet. i've been trying to help him break that habit."
"... what?"
"oh, haha! nothing. ignore that."
"..."
"anyway! i'll be home a little after five if you wanna talk more then." ryan suggested, trying to clear the concerned silence. his son didn't bite THAT hard.
however, the boy's head shot up when he heard his fathers voice on the other line.
"daddy?" he whispered, leaning towards brendons phone, "hi, daddy!"
"hi!" ryan replied with a grin, checking his watch. he had two more minutes.
"uh, yeah, that'll work. i'll talk to you later." brendon answered, peeling the phone away from marcus.
"okay. talk to you later. bye, marcus!"
"bye!" marcus said happily, his mood lifted as brendon hung up. the toddler kissed the screen of the phone, as if it could reach his dad, causing brendon to grimace at the slobber mark.
"you good now?" brendon asked, wiping the tear trails off the kids face with the back of his hand. the boy just crawled off his lap, plopping down back in front of the tv.
"dog!" he said with a grin as courage came on the tv. ryan hadn't been joking when he said it was his favourite show, he had immediately lit up. more than he had just from talking to ryan.
picking up the scattered goldfish he had offered, brendon sighed and looked at the toddler.
"i really don't know what to do with you."
only seven and a half more hours.
