~SkepHalo Oneshots~

Childcare

Requested by MemesBoyHalo

"...How did this happen?!" Zak exclaimed, staring down at the child sitting on his lap.

He left for two seconds, and Darryl somehow turned into an infant. Aside from the fact that that literally made no sense, Zak had no idea what to do.

"I don't know how to take care of a kid! I can barely take care of myself!" Baby Darryl gurgled in response and reached out to grab Zak's face.

Zak lifted his hand to remove Darryl's fingers from his nose. Immediately the baby's little hand gripped Zak's thumb tightly. Zak shook his hand gently, but Darryl refused to let go.

Zak sighed as his thumb was brought into Darryl's mouth and chewed on. Thankfully, the few teeth Darryl had weren't particularly developed, so it didn't hurt. However, it was rather gross.

As Darryl continued to slobber on Zak's finger, something occurred to Zak: how on earth was he supposed to feed him? He moved Darryl's other hand to his hoodie to give him something to grip on to while Zak pulled up Google on his phone. He typed in "what to feed a" and then stopped, realizing he had no idea how old Darryl was. So he deleted his half-written search and instead began trying to figure out the boy's age.

A few minutes later, Zak had concluded that Darryl was somewhere between 6 and 12 months, probably closer to 6. He decided to go with about 7. He returned to his original search, "what to feed a 7 month old baby". He clicked the first link and scanned the article. Basically, Darryl could eat some solids, but not much. Puréed food was good, apparently.

Zak turned his attention back to the baby clinging to his hoodie. Lucky for him, Darryl seemed to be very well-behaved, happy to just sit. He stared up at Zak, his green eyes filled with wonder. Zak slipped his phone back into his pocket and awkwardly smiled back.

"Okay, Darryl! You want something to eat?" he asked, standing up and holding the child upright in his arms. Darryl babbled happily as Zak entered the kitchen. "Let's see..." he mumbled as he looked through the fridge. He didn't really have a way of puréeing food, so he decided to go with something already soft. He grabbed a jar of apple sauce, deciding it was better than nothing.

Zak managed to take care of Darryl fairly well for the remainder of the day. By the time the evening rolled around, Zak was thoroughly exhausted. Turns out taking care of a child, even a chill one, takes a lot out of you.

Darryl yawned and nuzzled against Zak's chest. Zak's heart swelled. Baby Darryl was insanely cute, almost as cute as his adult self. Almost.

Zak stood up, Darryl fast asleep in his arms. He didn't have a bed Darryl could safely sleep in alone, so he figured his best bet was to have Darryl sleep in his bed so he could keep an eye on him during the night.

Zak climbed into bed, not bothering to change into pajamas. He fell asleep quickly, arms wrapped around Darryl.

——

Darryl awoke the next morning, very confused. The last thing he remembered was he and Zak hanging out on the couch, chatting. Zak left to grab his phone, leaving Darryl alone in the living room. Now all of a sudden, he and Zak were cuddling in bed.

Darryl tried to sit up, but Zak only held him tighter in his sleep. Darryl blushed bright red. "Oh my goodness," Darryl mumbled. "Wake up, you fatty!" he said before sticking his hand up Zak's hoodie and poking him in a particularly sensitive spot. ((I know what you're thinking shhhh darryl knows where zak's sensitive bc he tickles him a lot y'all need jesus))

Zak instantly sat up, making a disgruntled noise.

"Zak, why are we in your bed? What happened?!" Darryl asked, also sitting up.

"Oh good, you're back to normal," Zak said, relieved.

"What are you talking about, you muffin?"

"Well, uh-" Zak chuckled, shaking his head. "You're not gonna believe me..."

"What?" Darryl insisted.

"You turned into a baby."

Darryl made an unamused expression. "Be serious, Zak, what happened?"

"I am being serious! I got my phone, then I came back and you had changed! I had to take care of you for the rest of the day."

A smile tugged at the corner of Darryl's mouth. "You took care of me?"

Zak looked down, fidgeting with the bedsheets. "W-well, yeah, it wasn't like you could take care of yourself, what could I do otherwise?"

Darryl giggled. "Fair enough," he conceded.