All The Small Things

181

[Luca POV]

When I woke up, Jacob was still asleep next to me, which made sense, considering how he always has to work until, like, 4 am. But since he works so late and goes in so early, I didn't get to see him at all yesterday. So I rubbed my eyes and cuddled up to him, starting to very gently bite his arm. I don't know why, but it comforts me. And it makes me feel closer to whoever I'm biting. I know it's weird, but I don't wanna stop. I honestly spaced out while doing it, so after a while, I must've got a little rough. When I came back to reality, it was because Jacob shoved me away from him.
"Ow! Don't bite me!" He shouted, instantly startling me and making me feel a sense of fight of flight.
"I-I'm sorry," I tried to apologize, sitting up and accidentally making myself dizzy.

I felt Jacob get up from the bed, so I tried to follow him with blurry vision, but the second I stood up, I fell and smacked my head against the dresser.
"Ow!" I cried, sitting on my knees on the floor, doubled over with my chest to the ground and holding where my head hurt. I just cried for a while until I couldn't anymore. I slowly sat up, hearing Pepper meow and hurry into our room. I wiped my eyes and pulled her into my lap as soon as she was within my reach. I moved so my back was pressed against the dresser and held Pepper up to my face, rocking myself.

I held her like that until she started squirming, so I set her down before standing up and walking to the living room. I saw Jacob on the couch with his head in his hands. I just stood in the doorway for a second. When he finally looked up, he glanced over at me.
"Baby, come here," He whispered. I hesitated for a moment before he encouraged me again, and then I sat next to him.
"I'm sorry I yelled. Okay? I was startled when you bit me cause it really hurt, and I didn't mean to. But I'm sorry I did," He honestly apologized, gently grabbing my hand.
"It's okay. I didn't mean to bite that hard, but I'm sorry, too," I said back, breathing heavily because my chest and head hurt.
"You want me to help you get a bandaid?" He offered, making me nod and sniffle.
"It's just not your morning, huh?" He cooed as he stood up and carried me to the bathroom. "Poor baby,"

I sniffled and sat on the sink while he found a bandaid for me. I couldn't help but slip when he babies me.
"You want blue or purple?" He asked. I pointed to one of them, not really caring about the color right now, but more the headache I was getting.
"Fix..." I whined after he threw away the wrapper.
"Bug, I can't really do anything else," He sighed, picking up my hairbrush.
"Lemme brush your hair while you're in here," He said. So I turned around in the sink where I was facing the mirror. I was honestly just looking at everything on the sink for the first 5 minutes he spent brushing out the tangles. But I eventually looked up at the mirror to see if I looked okay, but for a second, all I could see in my face was my mom. Just everything. My nose, my eyebrows, my ears, and just my face overall. I felt tears well up in my eyes as I tried to tell myself that it's okay to look like her and that it didn't nessicarily mean I acted like her. I was starting to calm down when I felt a pull on my hair as my brush tore through a tangle. And it was hard.

"Ow!" I cried softly, the tears finally running down my face. I heard Dady sigh, set down my hairbrush, and rub my back.
"Shhhh, baby. Do you need me to be more gentle?" He whispered, making me shake my head.
"Mommy..." I cried to myself, pulling my knees to my chest. I just had to cry it out. But part way through me doing that, Jacob got a call.

[Jacob POV]

In the middle of brushing his hair, Luca just started crying. I know I pulled his hair on accident, but he never cries over just that. There was something else that was already upsetting him. But I offered to be more gentle anyway. It was almost like he didn't even hear me ask him anything before he started crying for his mom. There wasn't much to do for him other than holding his hand and letting him cry through it. And I planned to do that until I got a phone call from the fire station. I stepped into the hallway before answering it so I could hear Shane.
"Hello?" I asked after swiping the green button.
"Hey. We've got a couple of guys that called out, and I really need you to come clock in. You'd get paid overtime for taking this shift. And you'll only take half of the shift, then I'll have someone else take the second half of it," He explained, making me sigh.
"Okay. Um, can I bring Luca with me?" I asked, hoping I didn't have to leave him home alone.
"Yeah. Yeah, that's fine," He agreed before telling me he'd see me soon and hanging up.