Live With It// Mike x Norton Fanfic

Chapter 1

Note From Author

Hello and thank you for clicking on this fanfiction!  I'm new to the overall concept on a fanfiction and writing a story in general, so please be patient with updates and responses.  I love you all and I hope you enjoy the story!  Please leave suggestions or ideas or maybe even theories in the comments, if you would like.

Chapter 1

It was quiet. Too quiet. Mike wished he could move. But he couldn't. It would wake Norton...and that at the very least would be disrespectful. But also he wouldn't see the calm that filled Norton's face when he slept. The calm was almost intoxicating. When Norton was calm, so was mike. Even when Norton was happy it was infectious. However, Norton tended to stay on the calmer side-which Mike didn't mind. But Mike could never see Norton's faults as a true fault. They were simply things that make Norton more likeable.

Norton stirred. Mike looked away quickly, mindful that if Mike had seen him staring it would have been strange. Norton groaned and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Where am I?" He spoke sheepishly.

"I-uhh, you're in-my bed..?" Oh, gosh he was screwed. How could he have worded that without it sounding weird? "Why??" "Well um-Emily said you were badly hurt in a match earlier today and-well *she* had a match so she told me to take care of you so I just thought this would be the most comfortable place!" Mike grinned, but in vain. Norton seemed not to find much comfort in this. Still Mike was awarding himself silently for the confidence that filled his voice. Well, there wasn't much-but there was more than he had expected there to be.

"Oh, okay." Norton spoke much to Mike's relief. He still had a bruise on his forehead and some bandage on his leg, but identity v characters' wounds tended to heal faster, as a gift from Miss Nightingale.

"Why couldn't have Aesop just embalmed me instead of letting me bleed out?" He managed, holding his head. He tried sitting up, but winced and laid back down slowly. "Hey, careful!" Mike spoke. Mike reached out to help Norton back down. He was dismissed rudely. "I can handle myself." Norton said bitterly. "Oh, okay..."

What was Mike thinking?? It was already strange that Norton was in his bed but now he was trying to touch him?? That thought was absurd. He shook away these silly thoughts and shut up. If Norton didn't want his help and Mike couldn't say anything that wouldn't make the situation any more uncomfortable, they would just sit there in silence. And so they did. Until Norton spoke again.

"Can you leave the room for a moment..? I have to change." Mike grinned slightly. Norton cringed at this. Mike realized what he had done and pinched his arm without Norton's notice. "Uh, yeah, of course." And so Mike climbed out of bed and walked out of the room, closing the door.

He leaned against the outside of the door, pulling on his noodle hair. What a disaster! He hadn't expected Norton to wake up so suddenly or to be so upset about the situation. But then again, who wouldn't be? I guess what just happened had played out better than it should have. Mike sat at the end of the door, holding his arm which he had pinched more than once during the length of that brief conversation. His arm was sore. Freckled and beet red. Like his face.

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Norton scratched his head, confused at Mike's strange behavior, yet even more disturbed by his own. Why was he so rude to Mr. Morton?

He shrugged and took off his shirt. He winced and grabbed at his side, where he had just experienced the pain. There was a dark bruise, the colour and size of a plum. He couldn't recall much from the match in which he had received these bruises, but he knew that there was Aesop and there was Jack. He had hated Aesop, now more than ever. He had the chance to embalm Norton, or to even leave so that Norton could surrender, but instead he stayed. It was clear that the reason for this was to taunt him. Why else would he have done this?

Either way, it was in the past. Norton looked around for his shirt. Hm. He was unable to find it. He checked under the bed. No luck. Under the sheets? Nope. A closet perhaps? Not likely, this *was* mikes room after all. Norton stared at himself in the mirror, and after a while, decided he would ask Mike for the shirt which had belonged to Norton , or maybe even to borrow one of Mike's. And so he opened the door, still shirtless.

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Mike fell onto the carpeted floor as the door swung inward. "What the-? Oh, Norton!" He panicked. "What the hell?" "Oh I-I'm sorry I was just waiting for you to uh-" "forget it" Norton interrupted. "Do you have my shirt?" "Huh?" Mike sat up and gaped at the sight of a shirtless boy in his doorway. He stopped himself quickly, realizing that this situation could quickly be considered strange, and blushed-his face turning redder than before.

He turned away, looking at the carpet in the living room of his apartment. "Your shirt is in the kitchen, Emily left it there." He said sternly, still hesitant to make eye contact or to even look at the boy at all. "Thanks," Norton said, leaving the doorway and ruffling Mike's hair. Mike was joyous when this happened. He looked up with puppy-dog eyes at Norton, still sitting on the floor.

Norton strode into the kitchen, picking up his clothes. A dark grey t-shirt and some jeans. Mike admired the way he dressed. He tried his best not to stare at Norton's chest...but he had been his crush ever since primary school and he had never been able to see-this. And so he couldn't help it. With wide eyes, he stared at Norton. Whether or not Norton noticed nor cared was foggy, but he quickly started eating some grapes which Mike had left on the counter.

"Mind if I have some?" He said, one already between his teeth. Mike shook his head vigorously, wanting to please him. "Thanks," he said, popping another one into his mouth. Mike noticed the wax burns strewn across Norton's chest, undoubtedly from the candle on his hat. He imagined tracing their outlines. His hands on Norton's front... and then he was brought back to the sad reality that none of this would happen. His face turned solemn and he blushed once more.

After four more grapes, a lot of chewing, and even more silence, Norton spoke. "Hey listen..." Mike listened intently. "I-I'm sorry about how I acted in your bed. You were just trying to be helpful but I-". He stopped short. Norton had caught himself being sentimental. He wasn't allowed to do that. "But I didn't want help." He shrugged and swallowed another grape. Whole. He took big strides back to the bedroom, his chest puffed out and his back arched, most likely heading to change back into his clothes.

Mike thought he had finally cracked Norton, finally gotten him to open up and talk about his feelings. But he was lucky if Norton liked him or even liked boys for that matter. The door slammed in Mike's face, who had been sitting in the same place the entire time. Mike smiled bitterly, well aware that his liking for Norton was naive, but what part of Mike appeared to others wasn't? So he just sat there as he heard Norton gasp in pain from behind the oak door. Mike wished he would let him help...