A little something based off of [this prompt]. Because @radioactivewombats wrote some fic based off a prompt I sent him last night and made me want to write something too.
At first Harper doesn't know what woke them up. The sun is up but that doesn't mean much when you went to bed only a couple of hours before it rose anyway. Their eyes still feel gritty but there's a noise, repetitive and loud and oh god it’s their phone where is it?
A mad scramble - and the promise to themself that they’re never again going to let Sam talk them into staying up late for a party to celebrate finishing flipping their sixth house - later they find it. It’s buried underneath their work pants dropped at the end of the bed. A vague memory of promising to pick the pants up in the morning flashes across Harper’s memory and they promise themself that they’ll do it as soon as this phone call is finished.
The call is quickly accepted. The caller ID says it’s Sam. What is he doing calling so early? It’s only ... Eleven O’clock oh jeez they’ve slept half the day away!
“Hello?” Harper answers before yawning. Coffee. They need coffee.
“Are you any good with kids?” is what Sam opens with. Harper is halfway down their hallway from the bedroom to the kitchen (where the promise of coffee to help wake them up is so tantalizingly close) but they have to stop mid stride to understand what Sam is asking them.
It takes long enough that Sam starts talking again. “Harper? You still there?”
Harper starts walking towards the kitchen again. “I’m okay with them,” Harper finally says. Outside of Sebastian’s younger sisters they don’t really feel like they have much experience with children. They’re decent with Mary, though. That’s something, right? “Why?”
“Uh...” is all that they get back from Sam.
Harper sighs as they press the button to start the Keurig getting itself ready to brew. “Sam I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s going on.”
“Okay...” Sam groans in frustration. “So y’know those fairy tales? The ones where someone leaves a baby on a doorstep? Guess what I found when I went to get my mail.”
“That’s not a funny joke,” Harper pulls a mug down out of the cupboard, rethinks it, and grabs a bigger one. Today’s going to be a long day they think.
Sam laughs. It’s tense and that’s how Harper knows that their friend isn’t kidding. Long hours of group study sessions during college has taught them how their friend sounds when he wishes he was joking but really really isn’t.
“Here, I’ll send you a picture. You’ll believe me then,” Sam says finally, just as Harper’s coffee finishes brewing. The phone call cuts off as he ends it. Harper waits with their phone on the counter while fixing their coffee to be just how they like it. A small sip to taste ... yes that’s perfect. Not nearly as sweet as some people might like it though.
A fond smile breaks over their face just as Harper’s phone rings out with a text notification. A finger swipe to unlock the screen shows a picture of one of Sam’s three dogs laying asleep on a fluffy blanket curled up around what looks like a wrinkly pink potato dressed in a sky blue onesie.
Yes. That does seem to be a baby. Why would someone leave a baby on Sam’s doorstep? Who would think that to be a good idea? He’s raised all three of his dogs, yes, and they’re all three of them very well trained, but there’s a vast difference between raising puppies and raising human beings.
Harper quickly taps out a text back.
OMG Sam I’ll be right over call and tell Sebastian if you haven’t already.
It’s going to be an interesting day.
