playing daddy ||a.i.||

[5] TEA CUPS

Ashton's not used to the weight of a child on his body. Hasn't been since he left home, and even then, it had been years before then that his younger siblings would horse around with him like that. So, when he wakes up to Neo bouncing on his back and chopping up his breaths, he briefly panics and has to refrain from leaning to his side and dumping him onto the floor.

"Neo, what are you doing?" Ashton groans, trying to push himself away from the mattress. Fortunately, Neo stops crushing the man and lets him up. 

"It's time to go to see Mickey!" He shouts, raising his small arms up towards the ceiling. Ashton chuckles, amused by how excited the boy is to see a rat. Glancing around the hotel room, Ashton finds Mellony's bed empty and immediately wonders where she is.

Though he knows she'd never leave Neo alone without getting him up first, or even leave without taking Neo with her. 

"You ready to go?" He asks, throwing his legs over the edge of the mattress. Neo nods like a bobblehead and Ashton smiles at him as he finally abandons the warmth of the comforter. 

Ashton lifts his suitcase onto the bed and goes through it until he settles on a plain black t-shirt to go with his black jeans, because, really, what do you wear to Disney World? Ashton doesn't know why he even started overthinking what to wear to an amusement park, but he's got his outfit out, along with a fresh pair of boxers, and he's ready to shower.

As he places his hand on the bathroom doorknob, it twists from the other side. The door opens with a fully dressed Mellony on the other side of it. She nearly runs into Ashton on her way out and braces herself against the frame of the door.

"Sorry," Ashton apologizes, though he didn't really have to, and receives a smile from the girl. He should have guessed that she was in the bathroom before he'd wondered if she'd left. "You ready to go to?" 

Ashton looks her over, without staring too long in certain places and can clearly see that she isn't wearing the clothes she went to sleep in. This Mellony is back to the regular Mellony, in a slightly oversized t-shirt and jeans, unlike the dressier version he saw last night. He kind of prefers the regular Mellony, not that it matters.

Mellony's gaze drops to her own body, as if she'd forgotten what she was wearing. "Oh, yeah. I was gonna wake you after I was done." She drags a strand of hair behind her ear and Ashton sees her eyes go wide as she steps out of his way. He thinks that she just remembered that he was trying to get in there. 

"Well, I'm up now." Ashton says, a smile playing on his lips. The corners of Mellony's mouth twitch and she ducks her head, leaving him to get dressed.

It doesn't take him—nor would it take anyone—long to pull his shirt over his head and embarrassingly shimmy around the toilet to get his jeans on, after he's taken a short shower. Once he runs a hand through his hair a couple of times, while staring back at himself in the mirror, Ashton quickly brushes his teeth and uses the complementary mouthwash.

He feels ready enough and flicks off the light as he exits the bathroom. His shoes are conveniently by the door and all he has to do is shove his feet into his boots.

"We all set?" Ashton asks, clapping his hands together. The action felt very dad-like and he mentally reminds himself to never do it again.

Neo doesn't really answer, so much as he screams with a grin that looks impossibly big on his little face. Ashton and Mellony titter at his response and the girl grabs her son's hand as Ashton opens the door. 

He'd found a hotel that was within walking distance from the park, so like the money saver that Ashton strives to be, he insisted that they make the journey on foot.