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“Awake?”
Ashton felt the weight settle at the foot of the bed before he even heard the soft voice. He cracked his eyes open, hoping to avoid being blinded by the sunlight but his efforts go to waste, the room was painted in sunlight and it must have be well into the afternoon. He shut them quickly praying that the familiar warmth now slowly creeping up their bed would take the hint.
“Daddy, you stopped snoring,” they whispered
“I do not snore!” Ashton groaned
Luke, inches from his face giggled and brought himself close enough to let Ashton cuddle into his body.
“I’m tired, Daddy,” Luke whispers into his chest, voice thick with sleep.
“I know that,” Ashton muttered, rubbing a hand on Luke’s back. He cleared his voice before continuing, “You feeling any better baby boy?”
Luke fell silent and burrowed his face closer to Ashton’s warm body, some his hair tickling Ashton’s chin.
“My tummy still has butterflies,”
They’d had an eventful day yesterday, a meeting with management followed by a day filled with promo for the new album. It was half way through their interview with Sugarscape that he’d leaned over closer to Ashton and whined about a stomach ache. They’d arrived home and Luke had rushed to the toilet.
“Hmmm,” Ashton hummed, his lips vibrating against Luke’s forehead, making him giggle, “Would some pancakes help the butterflies calm down a little in there, love?”
“Maybe with extra chocolate chips?”
Ashton let out a huff of laughter against Luke’s forehead, and yeah. He’s definitely getting extra chocolates. He kissed the top of Luke’s head before pushing the covers away.
“Let me take a shower first love, how about you watch some telly while you wait, yeah?”
Luke nods and scrambled off the bed before Ashton finished his sentence. He grabs a towel from the drawers, tossing it over his shoulder as he heads to the en suite
He takes his time in the shower, feeling no need to rush since Luke will not move from his position in front of the TV until he’s watched at least a dozen episodes of SpongeBob Squarepants. Ashton only climbs out when the water begins to run cold. He feels marginally more awake as he dries off, wrapping the towel tightly around his waist, pausing in the bathroom long enough to brush his teeth and let his damp hair down.
Once dressed he makes his way to the kitchen, passing Luke in the open space of their home. He’s far too engrossed in what Mr. Krabs is saying to notice Ashton pass by.
Ashton focuses on mixing the batter, the giggles that escape his baby’s mouth occasionally drawing his attention. The smell of pancakes eventually fills the house, drawing Luke to the kitchen
He makes his way to the kitchen and sits down at the table without any prompting and Ashton moves slowly around the kitchen, preparing coffee and stacks hot pancakes on plates for both of them.
Ashton sips at his coffee, watching Luke carefully cut into his pancake with a small plastic knife and fork he had begged for Ashton to buy because they were in his favourite colour. Knowing that it had been close to 24 hours since Luke had consumed anything without immediately regurgitating it; it was good to see him actually eating something.
"Drink your milk, Luke," Ashton adds as Luke finished his second pancake.
Luke blinks at his cup, and then frowns. "Want my big boy cup."
"I think we should stick with your sippy cup today," Ashton says, not willing to budge on this one even a little bit. He'd given in to Luke's big eyes and pleading just once before, letting him use one of the regular mugs they normally drank from. It had been a disaster. Luke spilled milk all over himself, the floor, and all over a song Ashton had recently finished.
"But I want my big boy cup!" Luke whined, his voice picking up in volume.
Ashton gave him a stern look. Normally he would have more patience. But Luke had barely drank anything since he had starting throwing up, and Ashton doesn’t want him to be dehydrated.
"Luke Hemmings, Daddy told you to drink your milk."
The affronted look on Luke's baby face would have been amusing at any time. Lower lip sticking out a good inch, Luke grabbed his cup and very slowly brought it to his mouth, tipping it just enough to let a small measure of milk flow into his mouth. He must have been thirsty, because in less than two minutes he was lowering the empty cup back to the table. Even though there was no milk on his face, he still swiped the back of his hand across his mouth.
Ashton moved to clear the plates and clean the kitchen whilst Luke sat back down to watch TV. Once the kitchen had been thoroughly cleaned and swept he went to join Luke.
“Hello baby, how you feeling now?” he asks sitting beside Luke who immediately curls against his side.
Luke seems to thoroughly think the question over, his eyebrows drawn together and lips in a pout as he thinks of an answer.
“Better, Daddy,” he smiles up at Ashton, who huffs out a laugh before planting a kiss on his forehead
"Stay here. Daddy will get your blanket, okay? And then we'll sit down and watch a movie together."
He leaves Luke sitting there, knowing that he can trust the little boy not to move, and makes a quick trip upstairs to the bedroom. Luke's favourite blanket is safely hidden under their bed.
Ashton pulls the box out and takes out Luke's blanket. It was patterned to look like a baby blanket, but large enough that it can cover Luke when he goes for a nap. He also grabs Luke's teddy bear. Initially, he'd been surprised that Luke wanted a bear but seeing how fiercely Luke clung to the teddy bear, he'd never had the heart to ask questions.
When he went back downstairs, Ashton was pleased to see that Luke was still sitting on the sofa. Luke whined when he saw his blanket and his teddy bear and made grabbing motions with his hands. Ashton chuckled, handing him the teddy bear first and watching as Luke seized it in a fierce hug. Still clinging to the bear with one hand, he snatched his blanket with the other and promptly rolled over, hiding his face and bear underneath the safety of the blanket. It wasn't something he did often, but it never ceased to be adorable. Ashton smiled as he sank down onto the free end of the sofa, patting Luke's rump.
They finally settled on some cartoons, watching quietly until Luke squirmed around on the sofa beside him and rolled over. His head came to a stop pillowed on Ashton's thigh.
Ashton wasn't surprised Luke had fallen back asleep, since neither of them had had the most restful night. He turned the volume down on the telly and switched the channel to the news. It was hard to keep up with world affairs when they were almost always travelling.
The news ended without Luke waking, and a documentary of some sort came on. Ashton watched it absently, his eyes half shut, one of his hands lightly scraping across Luke's scalp. He might have drifted into true sleep once or twice, but inevitably Luke would shift when the movement of his hand stopped and Ashton would wake up again. It seemed it would be an early night for them both
With that thought in mind, he shook Luke awake after the boy had slept for only a couple of hours. Luke grumbled, rubbing his eyes with his fists and sulking. He sat up when Ashton prodded him, but leaned heavily against Ashton's shoulder. "I'm tired."
"I know, but if you don't wake up now you won't sleep tonight," Ashton replied, dropping a kiss onto the top of his head. "Daddy's tired too."
"Then sleep with me now."
Ashton chuckled at that, shaking his head. "I don't think so, sweetheart. Daddy's an old man. He needs more than just a nap."
"You're not old," Luke protested.
"I'm afraid I am," Ashton replied
"No, you're not," Luke said stubbornly, as though will alone was enough to keep Ashton young.
"Oh, is that so?" Ashton asked, amused, carefully shifting out from under Luke's weight. He walked into the kitchen getting a class of water, calling over his shoulder, "Everyone gets old, sweetheart."
"No. Not you daddy.”
“Yes, Lucas. Me as well.”
"No," Luke said, popping his head up over the arm of the sofa just as Ashton came back into the room. His hair was messy from his nap, the curls standing on edge. "You're my daddy. You belong to me. I choose when you get old.”
Luke looked so serious that Ashton fought back the urge to laugh. "I appreciate that, love," he said, swallowing the pills dry. If this was how Luke wanted to cope with the events of last night, Ashton wasn't going to tell him otherwise. For one thing, it was just too cute.
"Good," Luke said with a decisive nod, rubbing his eyes again. "Daddy, I want to play."
"Stay here. I'll go get some of your toys."
That meant another trip up the steps, and Ashton intended to make it the last until they retired to bed for the night, so this time he fetched a few toys and what they would need for Luke's bath after dinner. Luke was sitting on the floor in front of the sofa when he came back down, blanket spread across his lap and teddy bear tucked in close to his side. He accepted the toys Ashton had selected, waiting until Ashton had sat down before he opened up a box.
They played a game together for a couple of hours, by supper time; Luke was definitely starting to wane. The nap had seen him through playtime, but he fussed when Ashton had to go the kitchen to prepare spaghetti for them both and his eyes were filled with tears by the time Ashton came back. Ashton sighed, setting the plates down and sweeping him into a huge hug.
Luke sighed quietly, cracking a smile even when Ashton tickled him, swatting at Ashton's hands and whining quietly. Ashton fed Luke until he started whining, claiming his too full, and Ashton, not too fond of having to wake up covered in Luke’s sick, refrigerated what was left of it and hustled Luke into the bathroom for a bath.
Ashton drew the bath as Luke sat on the tiled floor of the bathroom, holding one of his ducks to his ear. “He’s helping me pick a bath bomb, Daddy!”
“Mhm, what do you think about the yellow one? Looks like the ducky, right?”
“Do you want to pop it in now, love?”
After letting the bath bomb dissolve, Luke stripped off his clothes and climbed into the bath as Ashton had asked. He sank down into the water with a quiet sigh. Ashton perched on the edge of the tub and set down a couple of toys alongside the yellow rubber duck
"Don't you want to play?" Ashton asked, pouring some soap into a cloth and lathering it up.
"No," Luke said, “Too tired.”
After the bath and exactly two minutes of brushing their teeth, he led Luke up the stairs into the bedroom, with just a quick stop to turn off the telly and pick up Luke's teddy bear and blanket. Luke scooted under the covers, now dressed in his pyjamas, toys still in hand, only with his teddy bear and blanket now added to the mix.
Ashton tugged on a pair of sweats before climbing in next to Luke.
“Daddy?”
“Yes Lukey baby?”
“Can I get a kiss?”
“You can have all the kisses you want,” Ashton said between peppering kisses all over Luke’s face before meeting his lips.
“You taste like toothpaste,” Luke murmured “I like toothpaste kisses.”
"Silly boy," Ashton said to him affectionately, brushing a stray strand of hair off Luke's forehead as they settled down for what would hopefully be a good night's sleep.