Sweater Paws ☻ Malum AU

one - starbucks boy

Michael woke up, rubbed his eyes, and looked at the clock.

6:30 A.M.

He got eight hours of sleep the previous night, but was somehow still tired. He sighed, got out of bed and opened his closet, taking his work uniform off of the hanger it was on. He put his uniform on and figured he might have enough time to go to Starbucks before he headed to work, so that's where he headed the moment he got in his car.

He walked through the crowd of people inside the shop and bumped into a boy with black hair who was wearing a Starbucks uniform. Tapping the boy on the shoulder he said, "Excuse me? Do you mind if I can sneak past you?"

The black-haired boy turned around.

"Sorry, I'm late for work," he replied with a rude tone in his voice. He then looked at Michael's uniform and retorted, "You should probably get to work as well. Bye," with a smirk on his face.

Michael rolled his eyes and walked out of Starbucks. That boy he bumped into was right, he should probably get to work. Starbucks would be open by the time he was done with his shift anyway. He sighed and walked to work.

☻

Michael grabbed the keys from the back pocket of his jeans and unlocked the door to Paws 'n' Claws, the animal shelter he worked at almost every day. He quickly pulled out his iPhone and stared at his lock screen, which was a picture of Paws, a small kitten that Michael was pretty much obsessed with. Even though he had only kept Paws at the shelter for about a month now, he got attached to her pretty quickly. He smiled and put his phone on the counter, walking around the shelter to find Paws.

He carefully stepped over the barrier, bent down and picked up Paws, smiling at her. A moment later, he heard a bell ring, indicating that someone had opened the door and walked into the shelter.

"I'll be right back," Michael said, carefully stepping back over the gate and walking to the front counter to talk to the customer.

"Hi, my name is Michael," he said, pointing to his nametag, "How may I help you?"

Michael's eyes widened when he looked up and recognized the familiar face of the person standing in front of him.

Starbucks Boy.

"Are you okay, Michael?' the boy asked, curious as to why Michael was being silent.

Michael snapped out of his thoughts and answered, "Yeah, I'm fine. What's your name again?"

"The name's Calum. Calum Thomas Hood, to be exact.," the boy said, rolling up the sleeves of his sweater just a little bit.

"Okay, Calum. There was no need for me to know your full name," Michael told him, smiling, "So, is there anything I can do to help you?"

"No, I'm good. Thank you for the offer, though. You're a nice guy, Michael," Calum said.

Michael tried not to blush. He couldn't remember the last time someone complimented him. He couldn't remember a time when someone ever complimented him until now. Maybe Calum was actually a nice guy after all. He would just have to find that out for himself.

Author's Note: HI! So this is my first time writing a Malum story, this should be pretty interesting. Credit to @SS_Larry98 for the amazing idea; I wouldn't be writing this story otherwise! Please comment what you think and vote if you enjoyed this chapter! (Btw there's a pic of Paws on the side, for those of you who are wondering what she looks like!)