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P5 - Chapter Forty-one

April 26th, 2021:

It was official. Winter and Lynx were dating.

I found it shocking, but Kinkajou was ecstatic at the news.

"Really?" Qibli skeptically asked, eyeing Winter suspiciously. "You didn't cast a love spell on her, by chance?"

"No, I did not," Winter said, rolling his eyes.

"Wow," I said, crossing my arms. "What a shocker."

"What?" Winter demanded. "You guys think it's impossible for a girl to like me?"

"Mhm," I hummed as Qibli said, "Pretty much," and Turtle nodded, saying, "Yes."

"They're just jealous," Kinkajou reassured Winter. "I am so happy for you! Honestly, I saw this coming from a mile away. Lynx never stops talking about you. Like, never."

"I can confirm," I said, leaning back into Qibli's couch. "She's come up to me so many times for advice, which I am horrible at, by the way."

"Well, what did you tell her?" Winter asked, slightly sitting upward.

"Oh, nothing," I said dismissively. "I just told her not to always assume you don't care, even if you act like it."

"Do I?" he asked, frowning.

The entire group said yes.

"Guys," Thorn said, suddenly coming out of the kitchen. "What would be better for the gender reveal? Popping a balloon, cutting a cake, or a classic baby fight?"

"Baby fight?" Qibli and I echoed in unison.

"It's where a person gets into a boy baby costume and another person gets into a girl baby costume and pretends to fight, and the winner determines the gender of the baby," Turtle explained.

"That would be hilarious," Qibli observed.

"I vote baby fight," Kinkajou immediately said, raising her hand, and I followed in her footsteps.

"Baby fight it is, then," Thorn said, writing something into her notebook. "Hey, I'm going shopping for neutral baby clothes later. Who's coming with?"

"Seriously?" Kinkajou cried. "I wish I could, but I'm going out with Glory later. Aw, man."

"I'll go," Qibli said, and for the first time, he seemed excited for something.

"Me, too," I agreed, sitting up and grinning. "Baby clothes shopping is so exciting. And everything in miniature is so adorable."

"I would go," Turtle said, "but apparently it's suddenly my job to babysit Auklet whenever Mom isn't home, even though Anemone and Tsunami are both home for the majority of the day."

"And I take it that Winter is automatically uninterested?" Thorn guessed, but I saw she felt bad for Turtle.

"It's not that I'm uninterested," Winter said. "It's just... I'm busy, mkay? There's a difference."

"Sure," Thorn said. "I'll have Deathbringer babysit Ostrich while we're gone."

"Bad idea," I quickly said. "Even though he let Ostrich hold onto him for, like, 30 minutes, he's horrible with kids."

"Have some faith," Qibli said. "He honestly can't be that bad."

"*"

"You are making a mistake," Deathbringer groaned as Ostrich clung to his leg. "I'm really not good with kids. Ask Moon. Moon, tell them how bad I am with kids."