One Shots from Random Fandoms

Babysitter

Type: fluff and angst

Ship: Willex (side Ruke)

Fandom: JaTP

TW: character death, adult humor and swearing. Also, I posted this in my 'Julie and the phantoms One Shots' book, but I'm reposting it here because it took forever to write and deserves more attention.

Alex Mercer sighed, standing before his neighbour's house. He was babysitting for the family across the road, whose father was always out at the HGC down the road, near his school. He had never met any of the members in person, but he needed the extra money in order to buy a new drumset, since his current one was getting too small, and his parents refused to buy him a new one because they didn't like their son being in a rock band. He was currently in a band with his three best friends, Julie, Flynn and Carrie. It used to be Julie, him, Reggie and Luke, but the last two boys went missing in February, Reggie first then Luke quickly following. The police had given up, pronouncing them as dead, or near to it. Their families were distraught, and their band too. Alex shook his head, shaking those thoughts away. Gently, the rang the doorbell, fiddling with the hem of his denim jacket. There was a yell from inside, then a young boy, around Alex's age, opened the door. He was beautiful, with long, brown hair, eyes a darker shade. He was wearing a blue, yellow and white ti-dye t-shirt with black shorts and cherry socks. They locked eyes for a second before the brunet turned back and called, "Dad, the babysitter's here!" They both stood there awkwardly as Caleb made his way down the stairs, followed by a young girl with long, dark brown hair and peircing green eyes.

"Ah, hello Alex, it's nice to finally meet you,"the adult said, holding out his hand. The blonde shook it, smiling. "So, this here is Willie, he's my oldest,"he continued, gesturing towards the boy who'd answered the door. "This here is El, she's my middle child,"he added, stroking the little girl's hair. "And in the living room is my final child, his name is Charlie." The blonde smiled politely. Caleb smiled back, before finally turning to Willie and saying, "Behave, okay? Alex is in charge now." He turned back to Alex, thanked him and then grabbed his bag, leaving. Alex turned to face the other two in the room.

"Umm, why don't you come in?"Willie asked, obviously nervous. The blonde nodded, entering as the brunet shut the door behind him.

"So... what do you want to do?"Alex asked, trying to break the awkward silence. El perked up.

"Can we play Mario Kart? Please please please!?"she exclaimed.

"Yeah, sure." El giggled, taking Alex's hand and pulling him into the living room, Willie following behind. Charlie was sitting on the sofa, playing a game on his iPad. El looked up at Willie expectantly. He walked over to the shelf and picked up the Mario Kart game, putting it into the Nintendo Switch sitting on the TV table. El grabbed a controller and sat down next to her brother as the game loaded.

"While she's doing that, want me to show you around?"Willie asked, and it took Alex a moment to realise he was talking to him.

"Uh, yes please,"the blonde replied, Willie walking over to him and gesturing for him to follow.

After the pair had walked around for about ten minuets when they came across a door beneath the stairs. "What's down there?"Alex asked without thinking. It then set in that that was quite rude, so he quickly followed it up with, "Sorry, you don't have to tell me-"

"I would if I knew,"Willie cut him off, staring at the door. "Dad won't let us see, he says it's something to do with his work, and it's none of our business."

"Oh, okay." As the two walked away, Alex could've sworn he heard knocking. No, it had to just have been his imagination.

The rest of the evening went peacefully, El distracted by her game and Charlie falling asleep on Willie's lap before the clock had even struck six. The loug ringing of the old grandfather clock echoed down the hallway, reminding Alex of what Caleb had told him in the email he sent (old people always tend to send emails instead of messages, it was very odd), that El should be in bed by nine. It was now eight o'clock. The young girl was sat on the floor in front of the blonde, eyes glued to the screen as her thumbs flickered quickly over the controls. Alex had never seen this game before, let alone played it, and he couldn't seem to get his head around why she loved it so much. He'd never been the sort of guy to be into video games, but he did play a game with Luke once, when they were bored one evening. Normally, Luke would be too distracted by Reggie to be bored, playing with his hair or simply staring at him, but the younger boy wasn't around since his parents had sent him all the way to Wales to stay with his grandparents that summer. Alex smiled at the memory. The constant calls and facetimes at midnight due to time difference, seeing Reggie soaked from the downpour, or curled up by the fireplace with the goldren retriever his gran and grandpa owned, named Goldie. Goldie was a sweetheart, and Alex would laugh at how Luke got jealous over a dog. The blonde was brought back to reality when Willie turned to him and asked, "You okay? You zoned out for a moment? Are you bored? I'm sure El won't mind letting you have a game."