Tʜᴇᴀ's Lɪᴛᴛʟᴇ : Aᴄᴇ Eᴠᴀɴ

[Five]

"Ace, wait!"

I run after him as he locks himself in the washroom and I start to bang against the door.

"Baby, please listen to me. Don't listen to her! She doesn't know or care about us! And I don't care about what she thinks or not! All I care about is you! Trust me, Ace! Open the door, bud. Please."

There's no sound from the other side, not even a sniff or whimper or him shuffling, and it scares me to death. I don't even want to imagine what must be going through his head right now. I really hope he's still feeling little, because big Ace would definitely end up doing something he's gonna regret later.

My heart races the more he stays quiet and doesn't open the door. I really want to give him space to resolve his own pain, to think and calm down, but I can't. Especially not after knowing what he could do if left alone long with his demons. He's been clean for so long, he wouldn't relapse, right? He promised he'd talk to me if ever felt that way again.

I can't take the risk. I rush to our room and fetch the spare keys then get back to the door, just then the door creaks open and Ace is standing there, eyes puffy and lower lip bleeding from probably him biting onto it, cheeks all blotchy and tear streaks running along. My heart squeezes for him.

"Baby..." I open my arms, not wanting to force him—giving him the option to choose me.

He stares at the floor, scrubbing one foot over the other, his new horse plushie tucked safely under his arm. He's in deep thought, contemplating whether to give into his headspace or keep pushing me away. I wait patiently for him decide.

Much to my relief, he gives in and crashes himself into my arms, not touching me or anything just putting his head on my shoulder and sniffling softly. I wrap my arms around him and pick him up, rubbing his back and patting his butt till his sniffles cease to nothing.

"I'm so sorry you had to hear all that. But I promise none of those matter to me. All I care about is us, and you know, dad was so happy for us. Next time, I'd only call him and we'd have so much fun, okay?"

He doesn't respond, I feel him rubbing his nose along my shirt, probably to wipe his snot. It should've icked me, but as a mommy-dom, it makes me coo. I carry him to our bedroom and gently lie him down on the bed, as I attempt to pull away, he whines and tries to grab at the front of my shirt to keep me close.

"I'll just change and join you in a second, baby." I assure and pry his hands off of me, tucking the quilt over him and scurrying to change my shirt into a flannel one since the delivery men would be here anytime soon.

When I return to the bed, Ace is talking to his horse in a whisper-soft voice, moving its legs and tail around, some times giggling. I silently take my phone out and snap a couple pictures of the scene. My heart warm and a soft smile grazing my lips.

I get to the closet and fetch one of the new pacifiers I've bought this morning, it's green and yellow one with a sunflower on it. I have already cleaned all of his stuff so they're safe to use.

Getting back in the bed with him, I slowly slip the rubber in his mouth. He was probably too deep in his headspace while playing with his horse that he doesn't react, even starts suckling on it. I feel at ease—safe to not encounter another tantrum. I hope soon enough he'd accept the bottle feeding and fall alseep to it.

"Come on, baby. Let's take a nap so I can assist the workers when your stuff arrives." I say and pull him towards me, stroking his hair and patting his back.

"Not sweepy." He lisps around the pacifier but his eyelids are already heavy, drawing a chuckle out of me.

"Okay." I indulge and continue to pat his back, softly humming a random tune, not necessarily any song, just something made out of my mind and it works. He yawns and the pacifier slips out of his mouth. I push it back in as his eyes flutter close and in a few seconds, soft snores are leaving his mouth.