All The Small Things

162

[Jacob POV]

I'll admit, I was being really inconsiderate. I don't blame Luca for yelling, especially when I know firsthand how triggering it is when somebody just can't seem to grasp the concept of what you're trying to say to them. So I drove us home, already having explained to Doug before I unlocked our front door, and tried to help Luca relax.
"Do you wanna take a bath with me?" I asked, rubbing his back. He nodded a little, so I locked our front door and told him to go get his pajamas. I got two towels out and hung them up before starting to run the bathwater. Luca walked in and set his pajamas on the sink counter before just leaning against me while we waited for the water to fill up.
"You're so handsome," Luca mumbled, wrapping his arms around me.
"Thank you," I said, smiling and starting to stroke his hair.

When it was finally done, I switched off the tap and stripped down with Luca. I got in first and let him sit in my lap. He relaxed around me as I rubbed his back and cooed at him.
"Dady, I love 'ou," He slurred, his 'you' sounding more like 'ew' because he didn't pronounce the Y at all.
"I love 'ou too, baby," I said, mimicking his pronunciation.

"Don't fall asleep on me, bubba," I reminded him after we'd both washed our bodies and hair, making him pout and sit up.
"Need nap..." He whispered, rubbing his eyes.
"You ready to get out?" I asked. He nodded and started to stand up but slipped, making me instantly straighten up and grab him by the torso before he could hit his head on anything.
"Owie... Dady!" He whined, cuddling up close to me again.
"Aww, my poor little baby..." I whispered, cooing at him so he was less likely to cry.

I gently situated him so I could step out of the bathtub, wrapped a towel around my waist, and encouraged him to get out, too.
"C'mon, you gotta get dressed, baby," I said, grabbing his towel. He sniffled and stepped out, letting me completely envelop him in it.
"Which do u wanna put on first? Tops or bottoms?" I asked.
"I don' even want jammie pants," Luca informed me. I thought for a second before shrugging.
"You don't gotta wear 'em. You just want a shirt?" I asked, grabbing it off the counter and bunching it up. He nodded, so I slid it over his head and started drying his hair with a towel. He was in one of my shirts that were red and said Indinana University, but it was too big for him. My cousin borrowed it one time and ended up cutting off the neckline, so It exposed one of his shoulders.
"You're so cute, baby," I cooed at him as I started brushing his hair. He stimmed and tried to contain how hard he rocked himself so I could actually run the brush through his hair.

[Luca POV]

The next day, Jacob had to work again. I didn't know how long or anything. I just knew I had a really bad nightmare and that today was gonna be bad. It wasn't even really a nightmare, and instead, almost a flashback. It was like two fused together. It was at Kayden's house, and everything that occurred was the same. But instead of him doing it, my dad was. I woke up and just couldn't deal with it. Jacob was still asleep... I considered self harming and really went back and forth with it. I knew I shouldn't. I knew I should talk to him about it. But I didn't wanna wake him up. So I just resorted to cuddling next to him and silently crying.

By the time I felt him shift and sit up, I had stopped crying and just felt bad. But I didn't wanna bother him with it, so I just never mentioned it.
"Are you gonna eat breakfast here or at Carter's?" He asked after a while, not giving me the option to not have it at all.
"Carter's," I mumbled, climbing onto his lap.
"Okay. You just need to start eating more cause you're losing weight again," He commented. I just cuddled against him harder for close to ten minutes before he told me that he needed to get ready. So, while he changed into his work appropriate clothes, I picked up my black sweatpants off the floor and slid them on before going to get ready, too.

The drive there, I felt my stomach start to hurt. It was almost like a sense of dread. I didn't know why, but I felt like something bad would happen. Dady pulled into the driveway and got out of the truck, but only stuck around to knock on the door and tell Carter that I needed breakfast. He kissed my head before leaving. So I followed Carter inside, slid off my boots, and sat at the table with Lexie. I guess Sage was playing. But I really wasn't hungry... Carter set cereal in front of me, and I instantly felt nuesuous. I knew it wasn't entirely caused by the food, though. It had a lot to do with that gut feeling I had about what was gonna happen.
"Do I gotta...?" I quietly asked Carter when he walked next to me.
"You Daddy wants you to have breakfast, Hun. Do you not want it?" He asked, resting his elbows on the table.
"I jus feel sick," I whined, hoping that I wasn't sounding mean.
"I'll go dump it. But next time your Dady wants you to eat, you need to," He warned me, picking up my bowl and going to throw it out before telling me to go play.

[Jacob POV]

Carter texted me that Luca felt like he was sick when he was supposed to have breakfast, and I didn't really know how to feel. I didn't think Luca was intentionally saying he felt sick just to get out of eating. I think that he just gets nuesuous around food because of something mental. I'm not a doctor, but that's my best guess. I didn't wanna make Carter force Luca to eat what he didn't want. I don't want to do that myself. But, he seriously has to start eating more often and eating more at a time. I felt hopeless because the knowledge I had on this subject was limited, to say the least. I didn't even know guys had eating disorders until like 8th grade. I know that's sexist, but it never got talked about.

I was racking my brain for what to do when I remembered Carter used to work in an eating disorder unit at a residential mental hospital. I still had a couple minutes before my shift started, so I whipped out my phone and formed a text that was almost the length of a Hunger Games novel. But, to sum it up, I asked if I could talk to Carter when I picked Luca up about how to get him to eat, and I went into detail on how I was feeling. He responded a couple hours later, saying that he didn't mind. So I thought what kind of questions I needed to ask, and I wrote them down in my notes app on my break.

It was close to 8:30 when I pulled into the driveway and knocked on Carter's door. He didn't take long to answer and greet me before letting me in. I saw my little baby sitting on the couch, looking over to see who was at the door.
"Dady!" He exclaimed, smiling and making me grin. A girl with bright red hair sat up next to him and started whispering.
"So, what's his eating like?" Carter asked, shutting the door behind me and wasting no time.
"I mean, at home he doesn't eat like meals really other than dinner. And then he only eats part of it," I tried to explain.
"Does he throw up after?" He asked, making me shake my head.
"Okay... I'm not a doctor!" Carter reminded me before giving his opinion, "But, you could try having incentives to get him to eat more often. And you can just try adding to his calorie intake throughout the day. So, like. milk with what he eats would be good. Getting him snacks he likes,"

When he took a pause from listing everything, I saw Luca toddling over to hold me. He held onto my side and was gently biting me when a girl, who wasn't the redhead, followed Luca. I couldn't listen to two conversations at once, so I blocked out whatever the two of them were talking about to listen to Carter. He got as far as telling me about giving him juice without watering it down, but making sure he really brushes his teeth after, when Luca started crying.
"Oww!" He whined, pushing the girl away from him and trying to hold me closer. I didn't see what happened, so I just wrapped my arms around Luca and tried to let him try and self soothe.
"Uh-uh! You don't bite him!" Carter scolded her. I guess she bit him.
"He bites!" She pouted.
"He doesn't bite you," He pointed out, making the girl go quiet. I felt a little awkward and misplaced, so I just told Carter I'd see him tomorrow before walking out to the car with Luca.

"Dady kiss it?" He asked in the truck, holding out his left arm for me. There was a very faintly red mark where she bit him, so I wiped his arm off just in case and kissed over the mark a few times.
"Luca, how about we set up a schedule for you? And put it on paper and everything. Would you wanna do that?" I asked, thinking he'd like that idea considering his love of schedules.
"Yeah!" He grinned, making me smile a little. I can't help it. His smile is so pretty. I drove to Walmart and got the poster board and everything I'd need, along with snacks he wanted. So I laid the poster board down on the kitchen floor and let Luca sit in my lap while I filled it out.
"We have to be out the door by 7:45, so when do you wanna wake up?" I asked after making a row.
"7," He decided, starting to rock in my lap.

In the end, Luca did more decorating after it was all written, and I did the setting it up. But, the schedule ended up looking like,

7:00-Wake Up ☆
7:15-Get Dressed ☆
7:35-Brush Teeth + Hair
7:40-Shoes On ☆
7:45-Leave For Carter's [unless off work]
8:00-Breakfast ☆
8:30-Play Time
10:30-Snack
12:30-Lunch ☆ ☆
1:00-Play Time ☆
3:00-Nap ☆
4:30-Play Time ☆
6:30-Dinner ☆
8:15-Snack
8:30-Picked Up [unless off work]
8:45-PJ's and Brush Teeth
9:00-Bed Time ☆

He really wanted to put stars on it, and I didn't care.
"What time...?" Luca asked, picking up the marker from the paper and looking up at me.
"8:42," I told him.
"You tell me when is 45?" He asked, starting to rock again.
"I'll tell you, Baby," I reassured him, rubbing up his back. I just hope he can start eating regularly with this.