sugar babysitter ➟ muke

twelve

"Matt, don't you want your daddy to hold you instead?" Luke tried, growing a bit frustrated when his son only tugged on the hem of Michael's sweater, asking in a small voice to be picked up. Michael was already struggling with Mazie in his arms; he didn't think that he could carry two moving children at once, but Mazie and Matthew both wanted to be held by him instead of Luke.

"I'm sorry, Luke..." Michael hesitated, glancing down at Matthew before adding, "Why don't you just pick him up? I'm sure he won't struggle when he knows it's just you."

"No, he will," Luke sighed, running some fingers through his dark blond hair as he met the gaze of his daughter in Michael's arms, "Here, give me Mazie, then you can hold Matt."

Michael stepped closer to Luke and helped him get Mazie into his arms, then he bent down to pick Matthew up under his armpits. The brown haired boy balanced Matthew in his arms triumphantly, but then looked over to see that Mazie was struggling against her father.

"Shit, what did you do to make them hate you?" Michael sighed, glancing around the parking lot of the animal shelter. People who walked by watched them struggle with the two children sympathetically, to which Michael would scowl at.

"Don't cuss in front of my kids," Luke scolded, giving Michael an annoyed glance before setting Mazie down on the floor and tightly holding onto her little fist, "Maybe they're just annoyed with me because I've been so busy with work that I haven't been able to spend as much time with them as I used to. But how am I supposed to fix that when they seem to hate me right now?"

"How about skipping work one night when I'm babysitting? The four of us can have a night all to ourselves and hopefully fix this problem," Michael suggested as they began to walk into the animal shelter. Matthew's small hands tugged on the flimsy collar of Michael's sweater, bringing it further down and exposing his collarbones. Luke noticed the pale skin almost instantly, but swallowed hard and glanced away to open the door for his kids and Michael.

"Not a bad idea, Mike," Luke murmured, deep in thought before the strong scent of dog drifted into their nostrils. At first, Luke wrinkled his nose with disgust, but then he watched as Michael excitedly walked further in, and a smile appeared on his lips before following the teenager further into the shelter.

Michael and Matthew stood in front of the area of golden retrievers while Luke led Mazie towards the Shiba Inus, just so they could get a head-start in picking out their dog. There were only two Shiba Inus, and a couple was already playing with one. So, Luke asked an employee to help them out with the only other Shiba Inu in the cage.

Luke got to hold the dog first, smiling widely as the cute puppy wiggled around in his grip. Once Michael caught a glimpse of Luke holding the dog, he and Matthew walked over, and Luke looked up as Michael stood by his side.

"Do you want to hold her?" Luke questioned, checking with the employee that it would be okay. Michael nodded enthusiastically after putting Matthew down and stepped closer to Luke so the blond could carefully place the dog in Michael's arms. When they glanced up at each other, neither one of them expected for their faces to be so close to each other's.

Luke cleared his throat and stepped back, giving Michael space as he looked down to Matthew and Mazie, "How would you guys like to get some ice cream after this?"

"Yes please, Daddy!" Mazie exclaimed, eagerness clear on her cute features at the mention of ice cream. Meanwhile, Michael was holding the puppy close to his face, stroking her back and smiling lightly down at her.

"How old is she?" Michael questioned the employee, who was standing a bit too close to Michael's side for Luke's liking.

"Hm, I'm pretty sure she's around four or five months old," The employee informed, leaning closer to Michael's personal space so he could scratch the top of the puppy's head. Michael just smiled innocently the whole time, but not before his eyes caught sight of the name tag that the employee was wearing; his name was Ethan.