Chapter Text
“Okay, you two.” Lila picked up her purse. “I want you two to at least try and get along, no fighting.”
“Don’t worry,” Ross assured. “We’re probably gonna just hang out and watch tv anyway, uh, right Skid?”
Skid didn’t say anything, and instead gave his mother a pitiful look, giving Lila doubts of if this really was a good idea or not. Maybe she should have just dropped Skid off at Pump’s house like she had originally planned.
“You ready, babe?” Jaune appeared behind her.
“Jaune.” Lila said flatly, as close as the two were, she wasn’t quite a fan of the pet names yet.
Jaune just snickered to herself and started to lead Lila out to their Uber.
“Hold on a minute.” Lila stopped her and looked at Ross a little sternly. “I put my number in your phone, if anything goes wrong, call me. There’s microwave meals in the freezer and since it’s not a school night Skid’s bedtime is at ten. We should be back by midnight.”
“Right.” Ross nodded.
“And if I hear anything,” Jaune added. “You’re gonna be grounded until college, you hear me?”
“Come on, Mom, you can trust me.”
Jaune just narrowed her eyes at him.
“Okay, no trouble, I promise!”
“Good.”
She and Lila left out the door. Ross sighed and rolled his eyes. Really, how hard could this be? All Skid was going to do was watch his stupid kid shows and eat candy until he passed out, Ross was just there to make sure he didn’t set the house on fire. He honestly didn’t know why Skid needed a babysitter anyway, because he’d seen him and that little pumpkin kid wandering the town on their own plenty of times and, besides, Ross could take care of himself at Skid’s age. His dad used to leave him alone for hours at a time and he never once had gotten seriously hurt or irreparably destroyed the house.
Skid went to the table in the corner of the living room and got back to his drawings, while Ross sat on the couch with his phone and turned on the tv to watch one of his favorite shows since he knew Skid wasn’t paying attention. Though, these were all episodes he had already seen, so they were more like background noise for him to scroll through memes to.
After a few minutes, Ross’ phone pinged, he had received a text from Robert.
Hey, dude. The message read. You busy?
Yeah, man. Ross texted back. I’m stuck babysitting my mom’s girlfriend’s kid.
Really? Your mom’s dating again?
Yeah, I’m not really thrilled about it either.
He looked back at Skid, who was now on his phone texting someone as well. When their moms sat them down one evening a few weeks ago and announced that they were dating, neither of them knew what to think. Ross remembered at one point, when he was younger, begging his parents for a sibling, but that was a long time ago. He didn’t know how any of that baby making stuff even worked, and he had specifically wanted an older sibling anyway.
Even if he had wanted a younger sibling, Skid, of all the kids in the neighborhood, wasn’t who he expected to fill that role. How anyone could deal with being the older sibling was beyond Ross’ understanding.
Skid caught him staring, and pulled his phone closer to him while glaring.
“What?” He asked.
“Nothing.” Ross said and quickly went back to his phone.
Honestly, it’s not that big of a deal. He read the message Robert sent. You just need to find something you guys have in common.
Trust me, we have nothing in common. Ross sent back. He’s that little skeleton kid that runs around town.
Yikes. And you guys are gonna be step-brothers?
Looks like it.
Well, good luck with that. I’ll see you tomorrow.
Gee, thanks.
Ross put his phone away and considered what Robert had said. If he and Skid were going to be brothers at some point in the future, it probably was for the best that they find some sort of common ground between them. He had known the kid since he was a baby after all, and his mother had assured him that, with time, he and Skid would become close. Looking around the living room, he spotted a game console sitting on the shelf that held up the TV.
“What kind of games you got?” He asked over the back of the couch.
“None of them that I want to play with you.” Skid said.
Ross muttered something under his breath and tried again.
“Not even Mario Kart?”
“No! Leave me alone!”
“Come on, I’m just trying to be nice!”
“Yeah but you’re not! You’re not nice to me and you’re not nice to Pump! You’ve never been nice!”
Ross couldn’t say anything about that really, he knew Skid was telling the truth. Even when they were little and their moms would set up makeshift playdates between them just so they could visit with each other, he was always picking on him. Hanging out with Roy and Robert didn’t make it any better. Sure Robert and Ross had chilled out since they entered high school, but they still teased and harassed Skid and Pump whenever they ran into them.
Ross couldn’t really help but feel a little guilty about it. Skid was just a little kid, and his freakish little obsession with Halloween made him an easy target, even to other kids his age. It wouldn’t really be fair for Skid to come home only to have Ross there to continue the torment.
But Ross pushed those thoughts out of his head and went back to scrolling. He knew his mom had bad luck with finding dates, so it was only a matter of time before she and Lila decided to “just stay friends.”
Right?
Ross looked at the clock, it was still only 4:30, they had only been gone a half hour. God, he wanted this to just be over with. In fact, he was over it. He shoved his phone in his pocket and got up from the couch.
“I’m going to the candy store.” He said.
“Mom said we can’t leave.”
“I didn’t say WE, I said I’M.”
“But…but you can’t--”
“I’ll be back by like, nine, chill.”
Skid held up his phone as threateningly as an eight-year-old could.
“I’LL CALL BOTH OUR MOMS!” He said.
Ross froze, he almost forgot that Skid had a phone too.
“Okay, hold on a minute!” He said, making a grab for the phone.
But Skid kept waving it around to keep it out of his reach.
“NO!”
“What if I take you with me?” Ross said, desperately.
Skid stopped and looked at him like he had just suggested murder.
“Then we’ll both break the rules!” He said.
“No, just, listen.” Ross put a hand on Skid’s shoulder to try and instill some trust in him. “I do this all the time, and I’ve never gotten caught.”
Skid relaxed somewhat, but still looked skeptical.
“Look, they’re not gonna be home until midnight, we have at least six hours until then, right? And if we’re back by nine, then they’ll never know, because you’ll be in bed by then, right?”
Skid still wasn’t sure. Ross was much older than him, so surely he must know what he was talking about. But Ross wasn’t anything like Susie, who always knew what she was talking about and would never let him or Pump get hurt.
Ross, though, realized that maybe this could be a good way for them to bond somehow.
“Come on,” He said, trying to sound as enticing as possible. “It’s like in the movies, right? The cool older brother always comes through, doesn't he?”
Ross saw a flicker of something in Skid’s eyes, and knew he had just sealed the deal.
“You promise we won’t get in trouble?” He asked.
“I promise.”
Ross led him to the front door, grabbing a set of spare keys off the hook. Taking Skid by the wrist, he locked the door behind him, and the two walked down the sidewalk and into the night.