GetBackers Fan Fiction ❯ Adventures In Bansitting ❯ Part 4 ( Chapter 4 )

Part 4:

Shido's laughter died down a little and he took Ban from Ginji. “Come on you. Hevn got you guys some pretty well paying jobs; you can't possibly hate her for that.”

Ban's look clearly stated `Yes, I can.'

Ginji sighed. “Man, how am I gonna take care of Ban-chan if he cries whenever I'm not with him? I know I'm gonna need the money to pay for stuff for him, like diapers and formula, but I can't risk him getting hurt if I take him on a retrieval with me.” Ginji stroked Ban's hair. “It's bad enough it's my fault this happened.” Ginji blinked as Ban started suckling on his finger, gumming it. “Hey, Ban-chan, gimme back my finger.” He said, laughing.

Shido watched his friend and sighed. `I'm going to regret this. I know I am, but…' “I could help out, if you wanted me to.”

“Shido?”

“I could watch him while you go on jobs.” Shido shrugged. “I mean, it would be better than you taking him along and risking him getting hurt, right? The only time I wouldn't be able to do it would be when I myself have a job, but then we could ask Emishi or someone to do it.”

“Shido-kun… why? I thought you hated Ban-chan.”

“Yeah, well, you're my friend and you need the help and he's a baby that can't talk, so I suppose I can handle him for a few hours, you know?”

The soft chime of bells signaled the entering of a customer, and caught Ban's rapt attention.

“Hello, everyone.”

“Kazu-chan!”

“Hey, Kazuki. I assume you already know about what happened to Ban?” Shido deadpanned as Ban tried to wriggle out of his arms. “Stop that. I don't know where you think you're going, munchkin, but I'm not putting you down.”

“Of course. You know I consider this place one of my hotspots for information.” Kazuki grinned, and walked over to his friends, blinking when he felt a tug on his hair. “Hmm? Oh, hello little one.” Kazuki bent until he was face to face with Ban. “Can I have my hair back?”

Ban reached out and grabbed one of the bells on Kazuki's hair. “Ban-chan! That's not yours!” Ginji was ready to take the bell from Ban's hand when Kazuki waved him off.

“It's alright, he can play with it.” Kazuki laughed as Ban stared at the bell, confused, then started gumming it. “Be careful, little one. You could swallow that.” Kazuki took the bell back from Ban, and reattached it to his hair.

“I wonder why he's so fascinated by bells?” Natsumi asked. Everyone else shrugged.

“Because they mean customers.” Ginji said as he came around behind the counter to start making a bottle for Ban.

“Hm?”

Ginji laughed. “I think Ban-chan still has vague memories of being an adult-“

“He was an adult? Really? My God, I must have missed it.” Shido was rewarded for his taunt by Ban gumming on his necklace in annoyance.

“Oh shut up, Shido-kun.” Ginji laughed. “You just piss him off a lot, that's all. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, Ban-chan probably remembers that bells are something important, but he doesn't know why, because he is a baby now.”

“Putting it that way, it's pretty obvious.” Shido shrugged as Paul poured him and Kazuki each a cup of coffee.  Shido blinked as a tiny hand grabbed at his lip just as he was about to take a sip of his coffee.

“Umm, excuse me, I need my lip back.”

Ban blinked at him, but didn't let go.

“No, you're not getting my coffee. You are a baby.”

Ban pouted.

“Cuteness will not work on me, midget. I have dogs, remember?”

Ban sniffled.

“No crying.” Shido closed his mouth over Ban's fingers, gently, and put his coffee cup down. Ban let go of his lip and reached for the coffee cup. “No no no. It's much too hot; you'll burn yourself.” Shido glared at Ginji. “You could try doing something about the grabby baby, you know.”

“I could, but you two are so cute, I don't want to ruin it.” Ginji grinned at Shido. “It's really the only time I've seen you two almost get along. You wanna feed him?”

Shido blinked and took the extended bottle from Ginji. “You sure you don't want to?”

“Oh I do but- BAN-CHAN NO!”

Ban paused in reaching for Shido's coffee cup, staring at Ginji with huge, innocent eyes.

“Don't give me that look, mister. That is hot stuff. You'll get burned.”

Ban pouted and Shido shifted him, and started feeding Ban. “You know, midget, coffee stunts your growth. Maybe that's why you're so tiny as an adult, hm?”

Ban gripped his bottle and glared at Shido.

“Hey, I'm just saying, it's possible.”

Ginji laughed, and smiled warmly at his friend. “Shido, thanks for offering to help out with Ban-chan.”

“No prob.”

“I'll help, too, Ginji-san. After all, Shido can't watch him all the time.” Kazuki grinned.

“Just… don't dress him up in a girl's kimono, okay?”

Kazuki blinked innocently at Ginji. “I'd never do-“

“Yes you would.” Shido said, taking a sip of coffee.

“…You're no fun.”

Ban just blinked as everyone laughed.

End Part 4