In Love with a Lunatic (joshler)

42. Candy Shop

Thursday
December 11

"Eli, get dressed, please. I've asked you twice already."

"I don't wanna," Eli whines, remaining planted on the couch.

"Well, you're not going out in pajamas. You need to dress warm, it's cold out," Tyler sighs, slipping Josh's hoodie over his head.

"I don't wanna go!"

"Baby, you have to. You can't stay home by yourself."

"Papa's home!"

"He's leaving too. He has to go to the stadium. Get dressed. Now, please."

"No!"

"Elijah, I'm not playing around," Tyler states, his voice raised slightly as he makes his way to the couch. Picking the boy up, he carries him to his bedroom and sets him on his feet. "Get dressed."

Eli lets out a loud whine before stomping to his bed and ripping his pajama shirt off angrily. Tyler rolls his eyes and walks to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

Dallon shuts the water off not long after, "Is the door open?"

"Yeah. You're good though, he's in his room."

Dallon steps out of the shower and wraps a towel around his waist. Tyler spits into the sink and rinses his mouth out before slamming the faucet off as a naked little boy runs past the bathroom.

"Elijah Matthew!"

Dallon sighs as Tyler leaves the bathroom. Pulling his boxers on, he watches as the man quickly walks past the door with a naked, fit-throwing little boy in his arms.

Picking up his toothbrush, Dallon pauses when he hears Tyler gasp.

"We do not spit on people!"

Setting his toothbrush back down, Dallon walks to the bedroom and sees Tyler kneeling on the floor, wiping his face in disgust as Eli stands quietly with his arms crossed.

"Hey," Dallon says, his voice deep and loud, making both Eli and Tyler flinch.

The little boy looks up at the taller man.

"Get dressed," Dallon demands. "Right now."

Quickly dropping his arms, Eli grabs his clean clothes and begins putting them on as Tyler stands up and walks out the door.

Dallon waits in the room, his arms crossed, until Eli is fully dressed. Walking to the bed, he sits down and leans forward on his elbows, coming face to face with the small boy, "What's going on? Hm?"

Eli stares at his feet with a pout.

"Look at me."

Looking up at the older man, Eli huffs.

"What's going on?" Dallon repeats. "Why are you being a bad boy?"

"M'not a bad boy!"

"Not usually, no. So what's different today? Why are you giving Tyler a hard time?"

"I don't wanna go."

"But you have to, baby. I'm leaving, Josh is going to be with me, and you can't stay home by yourself."

"But I don't wanna," Eli repeats, his voice getting quieter.

"I know. But there's no other choice, right? We all have to do things in life we don't want to. But it's not the end of the world. It won't be an all day thing if you behave."

"I wanna go with you."

"You can't. I'm gonna be on the ice anyway, I'll be busy."

Dallon sighs when Eli looks back at his feet, "I'll be home later and we can do something, okay? But in the meantime, you're going with Tyler. And I want you to be nice to him; don't make him struggle with you. Also, you're gonna apologize for spitting on him. We don't do that to people."