The Request

It was morning, and Aunora sat in the kitchen, eating strips of raw bacon. Esper was quietly drinking orange juice beside her. Umbra and Victor were still upstairs, probably sleeping. Aunora and Esper were left to fix breakfast for themselves, which hadn't worked that well.

A small object in Aunora's peripheral vision caught her attention, and she turned around, stomach growling. If the Mortis house had mice, she was claiming them as her prey.

Just as Aunora was imagining the taste of mouse flesh, a creature leapt onto the counter, landing firmly on a stack of newspapers.

Umbra, in his animal form, blinked up at Aunora and Esper, his cute features appearing as serious as possible. Large, furry ears twitched along with his massive tail.

Umbra, with a quick glance behind his shoulder, shapeshifted back into his humanoid form, standing before them in a long night-shirt and flannel pants.

"Matthew and I are going to be gone today, and I need you two to watch Victor," he announced, crossing his arms. "Can you do that?"

"Good morning to you too," Aunora retorted, snorting.

Esper shyly clasped his hands together. "She means yes."

Umbra breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. Matthew should be here any minute, so I'm about to leave, which means you'll have to get Victor some breakfast. There are some Eggos in the freezer, and if he wants anything else, cereal. Make sure it's the sugary kind. He gets rather shaky in the morning so he needs something with sugar in it."

"Waffles, sugar, I can do that," Aunora murmured, "Anything else?"

"Well, Victor doesn't really do much, so I think you should be okay. But if he asks you to play some board game, watch t.v. with him, or read him a book, do it. He's not very social, so little interactions like that help him."

"Umbra, this is the worst thing imaginable!" a muffled voice shouted, the kitchen door flying open.

"Well, Umbra, there's your man," Aunora said with a wink.

Matthew rushed into the house, waving his phone in Umbra's face.

"LOOK WHAT I WOKE UP TO!" Matthew shouted frantically.

Umbra squinted. "Matthew, that's a photo of you and Victor with a flower crown filter. Are you trying to tell me something?"

"What?! No!" Matthew hastily clicked across the screen. "I got a calendar notification! Today is Victor's blood test!"

Umbra frowned, horrified realization setting in. "Oh crap! I completely forgot! What do we do now?"

Aunora waved her hand, reclining against the counter. "Excuse me, boys, but you've got another parent over here. I can take the kid, he's partly mine too, remember?"

Matthew's expression loosened. "Right! Aunora and Esper can take care of this!"

Umbra didn't seem convinced. "But-"

Touching a gentle hand on his shoulder, Matthew smiled. "It'll be okay, Umbry. They can handle this."

Umbra gave another fearful look at the door, and then turned to Aunora and Esper, dropping his voice to a whisper. "Okay, remember how I said to make sure Victor eats? Forget that. He can't eat anything until he gets done with his test. He's probably gonna cry, scream, and claim he's going to die if he doesn't eat, but ignore it. Victor may faint, but he won't die from a couple hours of no food. He will try to guilt trip you, but you must stay strong through it."

Matthew shook his head. "I can't tell you how many times he's threatened to die before a doctor's appointment." He squinted. "He's even pulled off some rather theatrical fake faints. Victor has Umbry's dramatic flair, I swear," he laughed, nudging Aunora with his elbow.

"Will Victor be okay after his test? Is there anything we need to do?" Esper shyly piped in, touching his fingertips together.

Matthew and Umbra exchanged a wary look, grimacing. "Okay," Matthew started, "Victor's gonna black out once the nurse draws his blood. Sometimes he even goes into a seizure. And then they'll put him in a hospital room until he wakes up. This happens every time, so please don't worry, okay? Just keep calm. If he sees you guys panicking it'll make his anxiety worse."

"Also," Umbra murmured, "We may not be home until late tonight. Victor will usually fall asleep by nine. He may even be out by eight since he's had such a stressful day. One of you need to be in the bed with him. He gets scared otherwise." The fae rubbed his forehead. "And, as you have probably noticed, he gets anxious about nearly everything. Please humor him, okay? If he comes to you crying about how he thinks a serial killer is outside in the yard, flip on the porch light and him nothing is there. It may sound stupid to you, but it's important to him."

Aunora whistled softly. "Crap, this kid's high maintenance."

Esper quickly filled in, sensing the two parent's concerned response. "But don't worry, we'll take care of him. Victor will be safe in our care."

Shoving another slice of raw meat into her mouth, Aunora clapped Matthew and Umbra affectionately on the back. "Totally, man! I can use this time to discover my maternal instincts that never really came in."

Umbra sighed. "Alright, okay. We'll go kids Victor goodbye and then we'll be off."

"Speaking of Victor..." Matthew said, glancing at the door that led to the upstairs. "You can stop hide, sweetie. I know you're there."

Confused, Aunora turned around, hearing a disgruntled moan. Victor peeked his head from around the side of the door, scowling.

"Oh," he hissed, "you guys remembered."

Author's Note- well, i don't think I could deal with caring for Victor tbh i would accidently kill a plant. Also, im publishing the new book! Make sure to add it to your libraries early!