Pocket Dad (G/t) (Discontinued)

[7]

"Ah... No bawah~" Anthony shivered when he felt little large hands make contact with his arms. He was quick to get on his feet and back away from the intruding child.

"Yeah, more like no touchy. Back off," he almost growled. He wasn't in the mood to deal with the clingy kid that day, so he gathered the dishes he'd been washing and hurried off to another corner where he wouldn't be bothered.

Only a few minutes later, he heard the boy crawling in his direction again, and then all was silent. He turned around and shot a glare at the human sitting behind him and staring. The man didn't want to take any risk, so he walked off again, this time he hid behind some debris where he was sure the human couldn't reach out for him. The human still came to stare. When he reached out and found he couldn't get a hold of the tiny man, he stayed and watched his work instead of going right off to play somewhere. It was unnerving to have someone silently staring at him from above, but Anthony didn't mind too much as long as he was safe.

Later that day, he was outside washing his few clothes and blankets; he'd already washed the human's by the lake and found it easier to do his own in a basin- which was the boy's bowl. He was certain the boy was playing with yarn and rubber balls, he'd given him plenty to play with then stayed by his side to make sure he was playing. And yet after a few moments, his peaceful-chores time got snatched away when he heard the distinct sound of fabric rubbing against hardwood. The child was crawling up to him. Again.

When he heard the boy come right behind him and sit down to stare, he let out a groan of frustration. "What's gotten into you today, boy? Can't you see I'm busy! Shoo, leave me alone! Go away!" He hissed and gestured for him to leave, but he only scooted closer. Anthony threw the clothes in his hands in frustration and backed off. The human's attention turned to the discarded clothing. He reached out for it, and Anthony watched silently to see what he was up to. The boy fiddled and tugged at it gently, then without a warning, he tugged at a shirt hard enough to rip it.

"Wait-!" Anthony ran up to take the clothes away from him, but he stumbled and fell in the basin.

____

Anthony was currently wrapped in a small -large for him- towel, dripping off soapy water and grumbling frustratedly to himself. It really wasn't his day.

And not to break his habit, the toddler was right in front of him, and his hands played with the towel and messed with it. The man had to fix its position on him and pull it tighter around himself every second, but aside from that, he couldn't do anything to distract the human away from him.

He let the child play and fiddle with him while he towelled and dried off. But once that was done the boy wouldn't let him go, and instead had decided to lay down on his belly and get even closer to the man. His large face was only inches away, and with every little sound or coo or strange word he pronounced, Anthony felt his soft, warm breath on his damp neck.

Any other day he would have been fine with it, maybe even played with the boy a little. But that day he was busy with chores, and he was feeling especially sour, so the extra attention and unusual closeness only got on his nerves.

"Leave. Me. Alone!" He almost screeched and ripped the towel off him. Then he pushed off the hands around him with all his might and ran off as soon as he was free. He heard a gleeful giggle behind him, then the human following him. A game of mouse and cat started.

Anthony ran without much thought for anything, but he still thought of taking safer paths, well aware of the baby at his tail who could hurt himself. He didn't run too fast either, as he wasn't worried about the human catching him and didn't want to tire himself out when he still had so much to do. Maybe he would manage to tire the child out, so he'd finally be left at peace?

With that thought in mind, he glanced behind him and found that the human had kept up well with him. He rounded a corner and then took off as fast as he could on a long path. Then he turned around to find the human well far behind him and still following his tracks. But at that crawling pace, Anthony still had enough time to catch his breath and patiently wait for the human to get closer before he would have to bolt off again.

The human stumbled a little and got up on wobbly feet in a standing position. It didn't take long for him to fall backwards. Anthony watched him crawl and stand and fall a few more times, curious as to how the boy would do this time around. By then he had gotten close enough to the man, who didn't think of running off as the boy was too busy to think of him

Hesitantly, Anthony took a few steps back and looked up at the standing boy. He clapped his hands together and beckoned him. He took a slow step forward but then lost his balance and fell again, and Anthony took a few more steps back. It didn't seem this would go much better than any other time he'd tried to walk.

Regardless, Anthony kept on beckoning and encouraging him. Eventually, he took a step, but instead of stumbling again, he opened his arms to hoist himself up and took another step, then another, then another.

Anthony's eyes widened at the sight, and he ended up being the one stumbling backwards from the initial shock. But once that wore off, he felt a strange tingly sensation blooming in his chest. "Would you look at this! You really did this big guy!" He walked back and made a grabby hands gesture, making the human keep on walking towards him with careful, unsteady steps.

"This isn't half bad, good job!" He praised and clapped his hands, the warm feeling inside him grew more and more until it reached his face and ears. For a solid minute, the boy walked and made happy sounds and coos, stumbled and huffed, then got back up and took more steps, all under the unfaltering encouragement. Eventually, he stumbled one last time and didn't get back up, and rather rolled on the ground where he decided to rest quietly.

"This was great, good job kid," Anthony walked up to him and slightly ruffled his hair. He stayed by his side for a moment, made small talk and prompted him to get back up, and when he saw he wouldn't move, he went back to his work.

With his newly lifted up spirits and good mood, he didn't mind anymore when much later the boy came back behind him and watched curiously. He allowed him to fiddle with his small body and talked to him and gave him all the attention he wanted.