playing daddy ||a.i.||

[1],027 USD

Ashton is tired.

He hears the harsh knocks on his door, that's probably rattling the already loose numbers on it above the peephole, but his bed is cradling him just right and he would rather stay in it than get up.

Sighing, he rolls off of his mattress and slides his feet across his carpet towards his living room. He steps around the fallen plaster that's littering the floor around his kitchen, and opens his front door to reveal two burly men.

"Are you Ashton Irwin?" The taller of the two asks, glancing at his clipboard.

He nods and rubs at his eye, already knowing who these people are.

A week ago, a tamable leak turned into a hole in his ceiling that killed two birds with one stone and also caused water damage to his electrical appliances.

After he'd phoned the roofer, they said they'd be there in two business days, and by the fifth day with no sign of them, Ashton planned out how he'd live without going into his kitchen.

It seems they've chosen day number seven to show up and Ashton is contemplating turning them away.

"Alright, we're from Walter's Roofing. I'm Noel and this is Bruce."

Ashton nods again, pulling the door the rest of the way open to let them in.

"The, uh, problem is over there." He directs them further into the house.

They survey it, craning their necks at the missing chunk of ceiling and the discolored area around it.

Bruce nearly knocks over the full bucket of rain water that had streamed down during the past couple of days. "Yeah, we definitely need to get on this." He says, carefully avoiding the bucket on his way around it.

"Yeah," Noel agrees, squinting up at the plaster. Ashton follows behind him as he ambles down the hallway. He stops in the middle of Ashton's bedroom and Ashton watches him with his arm's crossed.

"Buddy, that crack leads here. Does it leak in here ever?" Noel asks, putting his clipboard under his arm.

While Ashton hardly thinks this guy should be calling him buddy, he doesn't say anything to him about it.

"Um, yeah, it does, sometimes. It's fine, though, it only leaks when it rains heavy."

Noel nods, heading back out to the living room.

"It's supposed to be raining heavy for the rest of the week." Bruce says, falling into step with his workmate.

"That one'll be alright, though." Ashton insists. He doesn't want them to have to be in his room.

Noel and Bruce share a glance, popping their brows at each other.

"Okay," Noel gestures for Ashton to follow him to his dining table. He pats his pockets and turns to Bruce who does the same. "Hey, do you have a pen?"

Ashton immediately wants to snarkily ask why he carries an entire clipboard yet neither him nor his partner has a pen, but holds his tongue.

"Yeah, let me run and get one." Ashton jogs to his room and plucks a BIC from his desk.

His phone vibrates on his bed, snatching his attention. Ashton pauses when he hears the muffled patter of rain wash over the apartment, then checks his iPhone.

His friend's sent him a funny text, and he chuckles at it as a fat drop of water hits the screen.

The boy shakes it off and watches another drop fall onto his blanket.