Before The Storm | J. Hale & A. Cullen

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Michael stood in the kitchen of the Swan residence. He was sipping on a warm cup of cocoa, absent-mindedly tapping his ring against the mug as he gazed out the window. Voices drifted to his ears from the living room where everyone sat, talking amongst each other until they decided it was time for presents. The house was warm as the warmth from the fireplace flowed through both the living room and the kitchen. The snow was now sticking to the ground, they all knew it, but that was a problem they would face within the coming days.

For now, though, Michael was allowing himself to enjoy this day. Seth came into the kitchen, grabbing the brunet’s hand before leading him into the living room. Setting his mug down on the end table, Michael took a seat on the floor next to Isabella as Seth sat down across from him by Leah. The brunet flashed her a small smile, glad that she had decided to come with her mother and younger sibling. He knew it wouldn’t have felt right without the girl joining them all.

Everyone started to pass out the presents, but Charlie got his first since Edward and Bella didn’t wrap the tickets for him and Sue’s upcoming fishing trip. Renesmee got a bracelet from Jacob that her mother helped her put on. Seth had gotten some new comics that Michael had heard him talk about many times before. Seth often went on rants about them as he read, always telling Michael how he thought one character should have had a more prominent role or how he hated one of the plot twists because it affected his favorite characters badly. Michael always enjoyed listening to the boy go on, but the older male was quite lost most of the time as he had never read any of the comics that the boy did. He hadn’t heard of many of them before, either.

They stayed for a little while after that, eating lunch together while they had conversations with the person next to them. Michael sat back and simply watched, suddenly overcome with a feeling of nostalgia. It reminded him of a time where he felt like he truly belonged with the people around him. Those people had never been his family, but they were close to it. These people around him now most likely would haven’t agreed with those people on anything. Michael wasn’t sure if he would have ever wanted them to. The person he was then and the person he was now were two completely different people. But as he looked at these people around him, he was alright with that. 

These people had welcomed him with little hesitation even though they knew relatively nothing about him nor the person that he had once been. The longer he watched these people, the more time he spent with them, the more he realized that Rosalie was right. He was beginning to feel at home here, and he wasn’t sure if he still wanted to leave after all of this was over. It was the closest he had ever felt to people since before he met Isabella for the first time. The clumsy, brown-headed girl had wiggled her way into the male’s heart and it shocked him at first that he didn’t seem to mind.

Now, he realized why that was. The girl had been curious from the moment Michael had met her. Stubborn to the bone, and determined without a doubt. She fought for what she loved and no one could stop her. She reminded him of the bubbly girl he used to know when he was young. She reminded him of his little sister; he couldn’t help but let her fill that empty spot in his heart. She made him feel more complete than he had in years. She pulled him out of his depressive state and Michael doesn’t think that she knows just how much she means to him.

They were best friends, without a doubt. Anyone could tell that just by observing the two of them together. Some subtle inside-jokes and glances were always cast between the two in different situations; as if they were silently talking to each other just through their expression and eyes. They didn’t need the mind-reading powers of Isabella’s husband to know what the other was thinking about or what they needed. They just knew. Their actions sometimes seemed to imply something more intimate, greater than the love of a friend, but that’s all it was. Many would assume that something had gone on between them at one point, but they were just that comfortable with each other. Nothing romantic, just them being them. They were platonic, like siblings, but nothing more. 

Getting taken out of his thoughts by a warm touch, Michael’s gaze traveled down to the copper hand that had brushed against the back of his own. He let their hands tangle together, the warmth being welcome to the brunet as he was cold. He looked back up at Seth, only for the boy to nod his head toward the door where everyone was starting to leave. The brunet flashed the teenager a small grin and let the boy lead them out. They slid into the back seat of the car, the brunet sitting next to the window. The drive back to the Cullen household was quiet and slower than usual as it wasn’t the bronze-hair Cullen who was driving.

The sixteen-year-old leaned against the brunet’s side, enjoying the feeling of the older male next to him as their hands were still entangled together. The brunet kept his gaze directed out the window, the snowfall reflecting in his sky-blue eyes. He let the warmth of the smaller boy next to him consume him as his thoughts took back over his attention.

•••••••

Seth was unusually quiet compared to his normal talkative self. He had just gotten back to the others after he and Jacob got done collecting more firewood for the fire that Benjamin started. He sat with the rest of the group, but his gaze drifted back to Michael every minute or so. The younger boy chewed his lip in thought before he got up and made his way over to the brunet.

Michael sat apart from the rest of the group, his back to the fire as he stared out into the dark woods. Seth sat down next to the older male without speaking. Their shoulders brushed against the other’s as they sat in silence. The subtle buzz of voices in the background seemed to fade around them the longer they sat there, surrounded in the other’s scent. Seth found himself messing with his hands, silently debating on if he should say anything. Before he could get any words out, Michael was speaking.

“You have to promise me that when it happens tomorrow, that you’ll try to stay away from me. And that you’ll try to stay out of trouble. If your blood is spilled or your bones get broken even in the slightest way, I can’t promise that I won’t slaughter the whole field. Or at least attempt to.” The brunet’s gaze drifted over to the boy next to him. Seth was already looking at him, a small scowl on his face as he processed Michael’s words.

“You don’t want me to fight, do you?” The younger boy looked away, no longer in a good mood. Michael draped his arm over the boy’s shoulders in a brotherly manner, pulling the smaller male into his side. “No. No, I really don’t want you to. But I’m not going to stop you from fighting if that’s what you want to do. I just don't want you to get hurt too much. I get that we're close, but that doesn’t mean you have to listen to everything I say. You’re like family to me, Seth. I’m just worried about you getting hurt. That’s allowed, isn’t it? Feeling like that because of someone you care about?”

The younger male sat in silence for a couple of minutes, not answering the brunet. His expression remained the same despite Michael’s words. Michael hesitantly pulled back from the boy when he realized he wasn’t going to get an answer, his arm dropping off of Seth’s shoulders. His hands fell back into his lap, completely still as he refused to look at the smaller male beside him.

Seth got up from his spot less than a minute later. “I’m going to go to sleep until we leave,” He grumbled as he walked back to the tents. Michael watched the boy go, his expression going stoic. He looked back out into the woods as the boy’s sweet scent left him, twirling his ring with the Volturi crest around his ring finger.

There was more he wanted to tell the younger boy, but he couldn’t find it in himself to tell the boy to come back. The boy had already made his decision and the brunet wasn’t going to make him change it.

Michael sat there all night, his back still facing the others as he stared out into the woods. He moved only when light began to peek through the trees, wanting to see Nessie before they left to the clearing.