#modernausass

The loud bustling noises of London rarely stopped, and that is what excited Jacob most about the city. The countryside had its perks, and the town where he studied in the US was fun, but to Jacob, almost nothing could outshine London. The people here were unique as well, and every interaction was on some level of entertaining. It’s what kept Jacob Frye on his toes.

After a training session, Jacob was just arriving at his home, turning the corner to his house, sweaty from the walk and The London Underground, he saw a woman holding something in her arms, glancing around. He didn’t think much of it, and would have continued past her if she hadn’t stopped him.

“Excuse me sir, can you help me?”

Jacob stopped and turned towards her, “What is it?” He asked, smiling.

“Can you hold this?” She handed him a bundle, and he was caught off guard by the weight of it.

“What- hey!” Jacob adjusted his weight to hold whatever was in his hands, and watched the woman get in her car and speed away. “What the…” Looking at what he was holding, he finally realized what was in his arms.

A child.

Luckily for him, they were sleeping. What to do now, he wasn’t sure. London decided to help him figure what to do by starting to pour, and he ran down the sidewalk to his home, trying his best to not wake the sleeping kid up. As he shifted them around to pull out his keys, they made a whining noise, making him freeze momentarily. When they didn’t make any more noise, he continued to pull out his keys and enter his home, being as quiet as possible.

Making his way upstairs, Jacob pondered on what to do. This kid had just been abandoned by their mother, and he had no way of contacting the dad, or any family members. They kid had been abandoned. It didn’t help that the mother took off so quickly in her car, with little detail given about the child. He decided that since the kid was sleeping, the best he could do was put them in his bed, and hope they sleep the rest of the night.

Jacob had heard stories from Bayek about how laying a baby to sleep was like messing with a bomb. That the most sudden movement could wake them up and chaos would follow. So, as he carefully laid the child down, Bayek’s stories with Khemu echoed around his head, even if the child didn’t look to be a baby but more around the age of a toddler.  Moving his hands away, he held his breath as he backed up, and breathed once he was out in the hallway.

He pulled out his phone, and quickly scanned through his contacts. He was lost on what to do in this situation, there was no way he could do this alone. He needed more food, he only had enough to last him a week. He wasn’t planning on taking care of a kid. What about clothes? How long was the kid going to be here? Should he give them to the foster system? Maybe they still have family. He took a breath in, and exhaled.

“Get a hold of yourself, Jacob. You’re overthinking this.” Glancing back at his phone, he scanned through his contacts. One caught his attention, and he went to press the call button, but hesitated. Surely he would have experience with something like this, but he didn’t want to bother him. Would it be worth it? I mean, he could call Evie or Henry, maybe even Freddy. Jacob sighed and hit call. 

The phone rang for a bit, before it was answered. “Hello?”

“Hello Father. Listen, I know you are probably busy, but I need…” Jacob inhaled, “...some advice”.

Silence. Jacob was about to hang up before, “What have you done now?”

“Well, I didn’t do much actually. This woman asked for some assistance in holding something of hers, and when she handed it to me, she took off in her car.” He hesitated, before bluntly saying, “She gave me a child”

“Pardon?”

“A child. They're sleeping in my room, but I don’t know what to do now. I don’t even know the kid’s name.”

 A string of curses was heard from the other end, before Ethan was heard sighed heavily on the other end. “Do you have enough food?”

“For a few days”.

“How about clothes, do they have clothes?”

 “Only what they are wearing” Scribbling could be heard on the other end.

“Alright, I’ll be over tomorrow, and I’ll help you sort this out”.

Jacob stopped breathing. Tomorrow? He was grateful for the help, but did his dad really have to come out so soon? Why would he? He called for advice, he didn't expect his dad coming to visit, especially since he’s so busy. “Do you not have work?”

“I’m free for this week. I’ll be there around 8.”

“Alright, see you then”.

The call ended, and Jacob rubbed his face in his hands. He now had another guest to worry about. He figured his father would give him a checklist of what to do, but now he was coming over. Still, inside Jacob was happy his father was willing to come help him. Only a little bit though.

Luckily for Jacob, the kid slept through the night, and Jacob woke up around 7 am, to the sound of shuffling footsteps coming from his room. Getting up slowly, Jacob had nearly forgotten the previous day's occurrences, before realizing that those footsteps were those of a child. Oh god, that means they are awake. 

Ripping the blankets off his body, he made his way upstairs, and saw the child shuffling around his room, looking around tiredly, and confused. When they saw Jacob at the doorway, and walked up to him, looking up with a head tilt, clearly confused to who he was. ‘What the bloody hell do I say? “Oh yes good morning child! Your mom gave you away last night so now I have you here at my home! And my father is coming to help figure out what to do with you!” no I can’t say that, it’s a child!’

A grumbling noise was heard, and Jacob assumed that the kid was hungry when they looked down and placed a hand on their belly. Holding his hand out, Jacob waited for them to look up, and after a moment, grabbed his hand as he led them through the house downstairs to the kitchen.

Jacob decided it was best to keep an eye on them as much as possible, considering that they were very small, and that he didn’t want them hurting themselves around the house. Picking them up, he made sure nothing in the vicinity could hurt them, before placing them on the counter. “What do you want for breakfast?”

They titled their head, blinking a bit, before looking around. Upon seeing the fridge, their eyes lit up, and they pointed at the appliance. Jacob walked over and opened the door.

“Alright, I have ham, bacon, and eggs-”

“Eggs!” They were cheering, clapping their hands and bouncing up and down.

Jacob smiled, “Eggs it is”. Taking out what he needed, he began to cook for the two of them, as the child continued to repeat what they said, excited for the eggs. Once the eggs were done, he picked them up and placed them in a chair in the dining room. Jacob ended up grabbing pillows from his couch and placed them on the chair as a booster, before grabbing the eggs, and placing one plate in front of them, and digging into his own. He was worried they wouldn’t know how to eat by themselves, however it seems they at least knew how to eat with their hands.

Once they were done eating, Jacob cleaned up, and made sure to clean them up as well, before moving to the living room, waiting for Ethan to arrive. 

Jacob was looking out the window when he felt movement next to him, and looked down to see the kid staring at him, curious.

“Mama?”

That hurt Jacob. This child was confused. Last they had seen their mom, they had fallen asleep in her arms, only to wake up in a strange house. What that mother did made his blood boil, but he would deal with his anger later. Right now he had to clarify who he was to this kid. “Jacob”, he said as he pointed at himself, smiling. 

“Eheeeheeuwbeekehh awskwskswskwesawdeh”

Jacob blinked. He didn’t speak gibberish. Still, he grinned, ruffling their hair. Hopefully they had some relatives they could get in contact with. Jacob looked out the window, and saw Ethan walking up to the door, hauling two suitcases, with grocery bags hanging off of him. Standing up, he went to the door and opened it. “I see you have had a busy morning”.

“I have”. Ethan huffed before looking down, noticing the toddler behind Jacob, curious eyes looking at him, confused and intrigued. “When you said a child I thought you meant around 8 years old, not a toddler”.

“They are the same thing, aren’t they?”

“Absolutely not.” 

Jacob looked his dad up and down. “Would you like some assistance?”

“I raised you and Evie I can handle this”. Ethan made his way to move through the door after Jacob stepped aside with the child in tow, and attempted to squeeze through the door frame.

“Are you sure?” Jacob grinned.

“Yes”. Ethan tried several more times, before silently handing Jacob the grocery bags, who took them chuckling at his father’s antics.

Once Ethan was settled, and the food was stored, they gathered in the living room, around one of the suitcases. The toddler sat beside Jacob, looking at him.

Jacob looked back, and glanced at his dad, unsure of what to do or rather how to respond to them, especially when they pointed at him. Ethan only shrugged, before being confused as well when they moved their finger towards Ethan, head tilting. Ethan decided to try something out, and pointed at himself.

“Ethan”. He pointed at his son. “Jacob”

The toddler pointed at Jacob, “Jacob” they pointed back at Ethan. “Ethab”.  They looked around, finger wagging about as they twisted around. “Mama?”

Jacob pointed at his dad, “Ethan,” he pointed back at himself, “Jacob”.

 “Jacob, check if they smell”.

“What?”

“Do they stink?”

Jacob went to go grab them, but they walked away from him, going to the plant that Henry had gifted him, looking around. Jacob shared a glance with his dad, as the kid pulled down their pants and pull-ups together, causing the Fryes to panic and get the kid away from the plant at minimum.

They ended up making a mess on the floor, to which Jacob decided to clean, and Ethan decided to give them a bath. So, Ethan whisked them away to the bathroom, and Jacob made quick work of the accident that nearly killed Henry’s plant.

“Jacob!” Ethan called from upstairs.

“Yes?”

“You need to help with the bath. They keep saying your name”.

Confused, Jacob walked upstairs and into the bathroom, and upon seeing him, they clapped their hands, squealing with delight. “Jacob! Jacob!”

Jacob laughed, and got on his knees besides the tub, watching his father thoroughly clean them of any filth they had on them. The whole time, they babble incoherently at Jacob, trying to talk but it only comes out in gibberish. Ethan reached for a towel he had found, and helped the child out of the tub, wrapping them in the cloth.

“I’ll be back with clothes, you dry them off”. Ethan left, and when he returned, Jacob and the toddler were pointing at each other, making goofy faces.

“I found out their name it’s- are those my clothes?” Jacob stared at the clothes that His dad had brought. Sure enough, those were clothes he wore as a kid. “Why did you bring my clothes?”

“Cheaper than buying new ones.” Ethan laid the clothes out. “I also brought pull-ups, so all we need to get is a toilet for them to go to the bathroom, that way they don’t make big messes again.”

Jacob nodded, and started to help the kid get dressed. “Their name is (Y/n)”. 

Ethan nodded, “Might be best to check if a toddler has been reported missing.”

Jacob found the missing children website, and got to searching. As much as he searched and called, he couldn’t find a single lead into where (y/n) came from. Sighing, he rubbed his temples, and lazily glanced up towards his dad who stood at the entryway of the living room.

“No luck I suppose?”

 “Nope.”

Ethan sighed, before taking a seat on the couch besides Jacob. “We can try again tomorrow”.

Jacob nodded. (Y/n) was upstairs taking a nap, which gave them a moment of peace. For the most part, Ethan had been watching over them as Jacob tried to get information. Seeing his dad handle a kid so easily made him wonder what it must have been like for Ethan when he was younger. “Father,” Ethan looked at him, “what was it like raising Evie and I? Did it feel similar to this in a way?”

Ethan looked forward, taking a deep breath, holding it for a bit before sighing. “In a way, yes. I had two babies to raise and look after, and your mom had just…” he trailed off, rubbing his palms together. “It was hard. It was all sudden, and even after all those months of preparation, I felt extremely unprepared. In most other situations, sudden events are thrilling. This wasn’t as thrilling, considering everything that had happened, but I gave it my best.

“You both were rascals, intelligent, energetic and absolutely a nightmare when you played together.” Jacob chuckled, remembering the times him and Evie would scare his dad. “I love every second of it.”

“Love?”

“I’m still your bloody father, aren't I?” Ethan grabbed Jacob in a neck hold, giving him a noogie, “Someone has to teach you sense.”

Jacob laughed, slapping away at his father’s arms. They laughed, and settled back down. “What happens if I can’t find their family?”

“Perhaps they will be put into foster care.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“It’s not your kid Jacob.”

“I know but,” he hesitated, before continuing. “It doesn’t feel right to give them to the system.”

Ethan crossed his arms, “What will you do then?”

Jacob thought about it for a moment. He wasn’t planning on being a father anytime soon, but the more he thought about it, the idea wasn’t too bad. Undoubtedly the paparazzi might begin to follow him around more, but there are ways to avoid them. He turned to his dad, grinning. “I’ll take care of them”.

Before Ethan could respond, the doorbell rang. Standing up, Jacob walked over to the door and opened it. “I was beginning to think I couldn’t have any more guests!”

“Who else could possibly be- father?” Evie peered into the home, confused as to why Ethan was sitting on the couch. “What are you doing in London?”

“Helping Jacob”.

Evie walked inside, and so did Henry Green. “What has Jacob done now?” Before Jacob or Ethan could answer, a wailing began from upstairs.

Ethan and Jacob shared a glance, as Henry and Evie looked at both of them for answers. Jacob made his way upstairs, hastily opening the door to his room, to find (Y/n) sitting on the bed, crying. “Mama! Mama!” They continued to call out for their mom, hugging themselves, shaking.

Jacob walked over to the bed, gently shushing them, and reached out a hand to try and console them. (Y/n) stood up on the bed, still crying, and began to pound their fists against Jacob. He looked down at the child, shushing them softly in an attempt to calm them down. When that didn’t work, he picked them up. Eventually, they calmed down, wrapping their arms around Jacob and sniffling into his neck. He turned to the door slightly, to see the others there, watching.