April Showers Bring Mae Flowers

Pierrot

The first time he experiences your parental instincts in action, it startles him. Seeing you going from REM sleep to wide awake and getting out of bed seconds before your child starts fussing was definitely a routine he didn't anticipate. He always gets up with you, always whispering offers of assistance and doing soft gestures like helping you grab bottles out of the fridge or helping clean out the finished ones. He asks for you to teach him how to prepare bottles and asks for your child's preferences when it comes to lulling them back to bed, a fleck of concern grazing his mask. With this being an every night ordeal, he finally realizes where your tired eyes and lethargic habits come from.

He eventually develops the same instinct with time, often picking up on your child's' shifting heart rate. His gentle demeanor amplified by the late night interruptions, preparing new blankets, making sure any noise makers are on, even small things like assuring your slippers are where you swing your legs when you get up. Your nightly routine quickly becoming shared between the two of you.

You stir awake to the feeling of your baby beginning to squirm in their crib. The rustling fabric a dog whistle to you as you habitually lift the comforter up.

"My love, go back to sleep, I can get it," a gentle but firm clawed hand lowers yours down.

"Pierrot, you don't have to, I can-" you groggily spill out, your instincts willing you to check on your baby almost overpowering the physical barrier of your carmine clown.

"I don't need much sleep, but you do, I've been practicing feeding and swaddling, please, my love. Go back to sleep." The soft rumbling of his voice was a lullaby of itself as you nod your head at him and curl back into the sheets.

You hear subtle noises from the kitchen as he prepares a bottle for your sleep bandit, a gentle rumbling coming from the thin walls as he greets your baby.

---

You end up waking up in bed alone, and your anxiety spikes remembering last night. Hurriedly you open the door to the nursery and your heart swells.

Your clown slept next to the crib, his hand threaded through the bars of the crib and your little one sleeping soundly, holding his fingers in blissful rest.

Harlequin

Absolutely takes a few nights for him to get used to you slipping out of bed. The first nights often leading to small arguments and petty squabbles before he realizes your baby comes before his rest. In the beginning he opts to just lay in bed until you return, often just staring at the ceiling or into the pillows. Listening to you move throughout the house and talk to your baby about sleeping through the night one day, silently wishing for the same. He won't willingly go out of his way to learn the routines, he's not one for kids, he's told you before. He does, however, make mental notes and can piece things together. Although, it would probably be best to leave the bottle making to you, he swears by just eyeballing formulas.

He would never tell you, but he develops the same instinct, just towards you. He picks up on your heart rate change right before you stir awake, silently thanking your little one for giving him the sight of you waking up in the moons glow. His ears perk in anticipation as he waits for your groggy greeting/complaints depending on the night. Often making internal bets on what kind of night it'll be for you.

"And where do you think you're going?" Tentacles coil tighter around your thighs and arms as you start to routinely get ready for Armageddon.

Before you can even open your mouth, your baby starts crying and his grip on you loosens. He groans into the pillows, "make it quick."

----

You're preparing the bottle as you rock your fussing baby, gentle coos and reassurances filling the air as you scold time for taking so long. The bottle warmer beeps and you reach for it before you're met with a familiar texture.

A tentacle gently places the bottle in your hand.

"Such a loud little thing," your emerald trickster leans against the counter, his hair unkempt as he combs his fingers through it.

Your baby greedily drinks from the bottle as they make grabby hands towards the interesting "rope", briefly touching it.

The feeling takes him aback as he tenses slightly, before allowing the infant to play with it.

"So, how long does this normally take?" He asks in faux annoyance, a genuine grin slipping through his act.

Jester

Being a light sleeper, your movements immediately wake him up every time, regardless on how slow you try to get out of bed. He very quickly makes the correlation to your nightly living alarm after the first night. The crying starting as soon as you sever contact with the warmth of the bed. The sounds of you retrieving your baby paired with the seal of the refrigerator causing him to remain awake. He eventually gets used to you getting up in the middle of the night and doesn't fall back asleep until you return and drift off, leading to some grouchy mornings. He never really helps out with your nightly routine directly, but there are absolutely signs. A new mini fridge in the nursery just for bottles, a softer mattress for the crib, even a mobile with a suspiciously circus themed motif.

He'll never get over his light sleeper habits, but he does eventually wake up with you, picking up on the slight stirring from your body and the changing heart rates of both of his humans. He does find it admirable that you sacrifice so much of your sleep for something so vulnerable, and you do eventually find a second cup of coffee waiting for you in the mornings, especially after a rough night.

"What is taking so long tonight, pet?" He leans in the doorway of the nursery, arms crossed in annoyance.

You've tried everything, rocking, changing, feeding, lullabies, walking, humming, literally everything. No matter what you try, your baby is just having one of those sleepless nights, and now your amethyst jester is getting impatient.

Seeing your desperation for a restful night swell in the corners of your eyes, Jester sighs before walking into the room.

"Give me the little brat." A clawed hand reaches out and you instinctually turn away from him.

"I'm not going to use my powers on them if that's what you're worried about." He reassures, his tone taking an unusual shroud of softness.

You hesitantly hand him your baby, and the crying turns into coos nearly immediately. He holds out your child as if they were a puppy covered in mud, his own hesitance billowing out of him before he forces himself to hold your baby. Tiny hands tangle in his purple hair as he winces slightly at small tugs. His free hand extends out to you, motioning to the lukewarm bottle next to you.

Turns out Jester has a way with children, much to his own dismay.

Ticket Taker

Much like Jester, TT is a light sleeper, so any movement that seemingly is out of place will wake him. He knows how troublesome young can be, he's experienced it before, although not his own blood. Human children however, are much more higher maintenance than what he's accustomed to. He gradually gets into the routine of waking up at approximately the same time every night while you absentmindedly make your way to the nursery, then the kitchen, then back again. On particularly hard nights where your little one refuses to allow sleep to take hold, he takes it as an opportunity for some unwilling overtime. Often using his mirrors to retrieve some paperwork still needing to be dealt with as you deal with your own work in the neighboring room.

He eventually helps out in his own ways, using his mirror abilities to help gather up things for you, bottles, burp towels, blankets, even a cup of coffee on occasion. He goes out of his way to make sure you have everything you need for your inevitable nightly interruption, making mental notes on any changes you or your little one make in the routines.

You finally managed to get your baby to sleep after exhausting every trick you had in your sleep deprived sleeves. You take in the sight of your little one peacefully snoozing before gently shutting the door, a surprise creak nearly waking the tiny terror once again.

You tip toe back to your bedroom, the desk lamp illuminating your journey like a lighthouse to blissful rest.

Ticket Taker was sitting at your desk, two cups of coffee waiting aside a small stack of papers.

"A particularly rough night for the little one," he grumbles before taking a sip of one of the cups, his other hand gesturing to the tantalizing potion of sanity.

"Thank you," your voice barely above a whisper in hopes to maintain the moment of peace. Reaching for the mug you take in the aroma of a cup you didn't have to brew.

The second your lips grace the ceramic, you feel the air shift before the crying starts up with avenged decibels. You press the warm cup against your forehead, sighing before lowering the cup towards the desk. His hand raising the bottom of your cup.

"I can get them, dear one, take a moment to breathe." Your black and white gentleman pulls out his pocket mirror, laying it on the desk as he makes his way to the nursery.

You sip your coffee finally, the caffeine soothing any worries as you watch through the makeshift baby monitor.

He holds your baby over his shoulder as he rubs their back and pats gently, small gentle reprimands filling the air.

Your baby repays his scolding with spit-up that runs down his shoulder, and you can't help but chuckle.

"That was most uncouth, little one." The mirror relays.

Doctor

Finds it fascinating that your biological timer wakes you up before your infant begins their cries. He's not exactly versed in the science of parenthood aside from the barest of basics, so it's a beneficial opportunity for him. He hardly sleeps in the first place so when you do begin to wake up to take care of your baby, he's already taking detailed notes on you. Even going as far as to write out a detailed list of your routines with approximate times and averages for how long it takes for your infant to go back to sleep. Although, all charm with his research goes out of the window when he realizes how much sleep deprivation affects you. He is familiar with how lack of sleep can affect you negatively in very major ways, and will do his part in assuring you get proper sleep throughout the day, medically assisted or otherwise.

He will help you out with your baby if you ask, but otherwise will stick to just observation. If you ask him to help mix up any formula you realize that he makes a perfect batch every time, although you have to really drive it home that you have special bottles for everything, not everything has to be in a beaker or flask. He's a scientist after all, and he's a record fast learner.

"Well done, sweetie. They went down approximately .26 seconds faster tonight than last night." His praise overshadowed by your exhaustion as you plop back into the bed, a muffled 'thanks' drowned out by the sound of his frantic pen.

"They are gradually getting better at sleeping through the night," he unintendedly rubs salt in the wound, "I project that in around 2 months they will-"

The shrill crying starts back up again as you groan into the sheets, your body subconsciously starting to make its way back to the kitchen. Your avian practitioner following suit, not realizing he peeled off towards the nursery.

You begin to prepare a burp towel and bottle and make your way back to your wailing banshee of an infant. Only there's no more wailing.

You open the cracked door to find Doctor cradling your baby, seemingly preforming an examination on them, baby cackles replacing the usual cries of discomfort.

Subtle mutters and infant coos ease your nerves as you watch him tickle and play with your child.

He realizes your stare and clears his throat. "You can go back to sleep sweetie, if they want to stay up with me they can help with my notes."

You can't help the smile that graces your face, "don't let them stay up too late, Doc."

_-_-_

Shen Yuan told him everything. The System hadn't said he couldn't. And it wasn't like he had any desire to lie to Luo Binghe.

"So you're a spirit from another world who was supposed to be moved to this one." Binghe summarized. "But something went wrong and the thing that was moving you just dumped you in my head?"

"Exactly." Shen Yuan said. "Didn't even tell me where I was either! I'm very sorry if I disturbed you."

"You didn't... I just noticed you recently. You look like...someone I didn't expect to see."

"Really?" Shen Yuan looked down at himself. "This is just my normal body- well, my old one I guess."

"Mm," Binghe said. "Any idea why it's my head you've been stuck in?"

"Oh probably because Binghe's the protagonist."

"I'm what?"

_-_-_

Luo Binghe opened his eyes. He'd finally gotta a moment to rest after a few busy days and he was taking the opportunity to go to what was quickly becoming his favorite place.

The dream he'd constructed was still holding up perfectly. The cute little house was tucked away in a clearing in a bright cheerful forest. Nothing more dangerous than a housecat stalked those woods. He could see through the cottage window that the floor to ceiling bookshelves were mid-re-organizing. As he came in he saw that his guest had gotten distracted by a bestiary. He had known Shen Yuan would like that one.

Shen Yuan, the little ghost that had been haunting his own mind for a few months now, was sprawled out on the bed reading raptly... Though he looked up and smiled when Luo Binghe entered the cottage.

"Oh Binghe you're back!" he said. He sat up and closed the book. "It feels like it's been a long time, are you alright?"

Luo Binghe put on a sad face and went to sit beside Shen Yuan on the bed. He sighed and was rewarded by Shen Yuan immediately pulling him close so he could pat Binghe's head.

"Tell me about it?"

Luo Binghe spent the next hour complaining about minor inconveniences and slowly rearranging himself and Shen Yuan until the smaller man was held tight in his arms, Luo Binghe curled around him. Shen Yuan never protested the intimacy of these cuddling sessions and though he'd get red in the face he'd keep up his scathing criticisms of everyone who had ever even looked at Luo Binghe funny. Intercut of course with long periods where he waxed poetically about Luo Binghe's best qualities. Luo Binghe had a healthy ego, but sometimes those talks made even him blush.

He had quickly become quite fond of the spirit trapped in his dreams and had no desire to remove him. He had some other types of desires regarding Shen Yuan but he has plenty of time.

It wasn't like Shen Yuan was going anywhere.

Maybe he should press a little though, he thought as he watched Shen Yuan rant. What would his little ghost do if he kissed him right now?

Turn bright red certainly, but besides that?

Luo Binghe leaned in -

Bing! Hello user! Thank you for your patience-

"Oh you asshole!" Shen Yuan snapped. "It's been months!"

Please remember to fill out our satisfaction survey after transfer is completed. Beginning soul transfer in 5, 4-

"Wait right now?" Shen Yuan looked at him with wide eyes. "But I want to say goodbye to-"

The strange voice hadn't stopped counting though. And as it finished with another strange bing! Both it and Shen Yuan disappeared.

He was, for the first time in months. Alone in his head.

Luo Binghe's eyes snapped open in the waking world. Shen Yuan had said this would happen. He had said he would be moved into another body in this world.