Pre-Onward One-Shots

A Restless Night

Chapter 4: A Restless Night

A/N: Welcome back to another chapter! In this one, you get to see baby Ian for the first time! This chapter is a bit detailed than the other ones, which is why it took me a while to finish it. Plus, I just started college last week, so most of my time was devoted to that. I think that most of my updates for this story will be slow because of school, but I'll do my best to get another chapter out soon. Please favorite, follow, and review! 3

Barley: 4

Ian: 7 months

Barley grinned gleefully as he watched his baby brother playfully shake his rattle with small bursts of giggles. Being a big brother was such a rewarding role to the boy. It was everything he would have hoped. Ever since his mother announced that she was carrying a baby, he was beyond excited. Before Ian arrived in the world, Barley would sometimes get lonesome, longing for someone to play with, even if his mother and father were always happy to entertain him. It was not that Barley was ungrateful; he was extremely appreciative of the things he had. But he had yearned for someone, an elf particularity, who was near his age, to play and be with forever. He wanted more than that, though. He saw that his parents were loving, caring, supportive, and superior role models to him. Even at just the age of two, he knew he would display those same factors to a little sibling. It would make Barley so happy and proud to have someone younger than him look up to him and follow in his footsteps. Wilden and Laurel certainly seemed to exhibit those feelings. Having the role of a big brother would be the best feeling in the world to him, and he would play a big part in his little sibling's life. So, desiring to become a big brother, he repeatedly pleaded to his parents for the one and only thing he had dreamed of. And all of that paid off.

Blazey scampered into the living room and barked happily at the baby. He cooed with joy and shook the rattle in front of her face. The dragon barked once and licked Ian's cheek, causing him to giggle. Barley smiled at this. Ian just made him so thrilled. Just having him around put him in a good mood. He loved him so much. Little Ian was simply precious. Barley made sure to play with him and give him lots of attention, and he was such a great helper to his mother when it came to the baby. He assisted her with feeding, bathing, watching Ian when she's busy with something, and changing diapers, even though it could be repulsive. He had to admit that taking care of Ian wasn't easy. Ian was a baby for the most part, so mainly, he would cry until someone handled the problem. At times, it was hard to get him to stop crying, but he and his mom would usually figure out a way. Also, Ian had a habit of putting things in his mouth. The other day, Ian found his big brother's toy boat to be interesting; it ended up covered in drool. Barley wanted to be the perfect big brother, but his mother told him that "there's no such thing as one." As long as he was doing his best, that was what mattered.

Ian crawled over to Barley on his little hands and legs, babbling. He only learned to crawl not too long ago, and by the looks of it, he was great at it. Barley lightly ruffled Ian's curly hair.

"Hey, Ian," he said, placing the baby onto his lap.

Ian's response was only coos and gurgles. His lack of speech made him more adorable than he already was. He didn't care what his older brother had to say; his presence alone made him very content.

Barley tickled little Ian's tummy with his finger. "Coochie coochie coo!"

Ian laughed and reached out for Barley's hair. He tugged on it somewhat hard.

"Ow," he winced. He usually didn't mind Ian pulling on his hair, but he was not tolerable when he was doing it so tightly.

"You really like pulling on my hair, do you?"