Sweater Paws ☻ Malum AU

seven - out

After about ten minutes of driving, Calum and Michael finally arrived at an arcade.

Calum got out of the car first and ran to the front door of the building to open the door for Michael.

"So, what game should we play first?" Calum asked.

"I don't think we can play any games until we get tokens, Calum," Michael said, blushing.

"Right. Sorry, I got a little distracted."

"What was distracting you, if you don't mind me asking?" Michael asked, raising one eyebrow and smirking.

"I was just thinking about something," Calum explained.

"What exactly were you thinking about?"

Calum was really thinking about his past, but didn't want to say anything. He didn't want Michael worrying about him.

"I was thinking about how I'm going to beat you at Skee-Ball," Calum lied, pointing to a Skee-Ball machine and faking a smile.

"Well, that's where you went wrong. I'm actually quite the professional at Skee-Ball," Michael explained.

"Oh, really?" Calum asked, "Well, let's find out if you beat me. Then we'll see who is really the professional."

"You're on," Michael said.

Calum quickly ran towards the Skee-Ball machine, ready to compete against Michael and win - or at least try to win.

"Calum!" Michael exclaimed.

"Yeah, Mikey?" Calum asked.

"We need tokens," Michael said, reminding him.

Calum face-palmed and walked towards the token machine.

"What are you doing?" Michael asked as Calum was about to put money in the machine.

"I took you here, so I'm paying," Calum said.

Michael was going to argue with Calum but decided not to.

Calum grabbed the one hundred tokens that he had payed for and ran to the Skee-Ball machine.

"May the best Skee-Baller win," he said.

"That's not even a word, but I'm going to win," Michael replied.

"Are we just going to stand here and argue about who's going to win, or are we actually going to start a game?" Calum asked, making Michael laugh.

Michael put his tokens in the Skee-Ball machine, and Calum did the same.

•

Three games of Skee-Ball later, Michael was declared the winner. He played several more games with Calum numerous times until they got hundreds of tickets and decided they should trade their tickets in and get their prizes.

Michael looked at all the possible prizes that he could get with the amount of tickets he and Calum won.

His eyes widened when he saw a giant stuffed panda.

"Calum!" Michael exclaimed.

"What happened?" Calum asked, running towards Michael.

Michael made a pouty face and pointed at the giant stuffed panda that caught his attention.

Calum chuckled, realizing that Michael really wanted the stuffed panda, even though it was pretty obvious.

"Crap," Michael said, looking at the ground, "We don't have enough tickets."

"Don't worry. I've got your back," Calum replied before sprinting to the Skee-Ball machine. Sure enough, he won the amount of tickets they needed in just one game of Skee-Ball.

Calum ran back to the prize booth and handed the employee the extra tickets.

The employee handed Calum the giant stuffed panda, and Calum handed it to Michael, who smiled.

"Do you want to grab some frozen yogurt?" Calum asked.

"Of course," Michael answered.

•

"Can I tell you something?" Michael asked Calum.

"Of course. You can tell me anything," Calum answered.

"Thank you for everything. Thank you for caring about me and meaning it. Thank you for helping me calm down. Thank you for planning today and making it so special," Michael said.

"No problem," Calum replied, smiling, "I'm here for you - always."

"I like your sweater," Michael said, "Well, I like all your sweaters, but I like this one the most, because you were wearing it on the day we met, which was the day my life changed for the better."

"You still remember the day we met?" Calum asked in shock.

"Of course, how could I forget?" Michael replied.

Michael and Calum sat at a table outside the frozen yogurt shop for almost an hour just talking and laughing and smiling, reminiscing on all the late-night phone calls and funny text messages they shared together and all the memories they would make in the years to come.

It all started when a boy who wore sweaters met a kitten named Paws - and a boy named Michael.

Author's Note: Well, that was the last chapter. :-( There will be an epilogue to this story, but no sequel. Make sure to check out my new story, Kids In The Dark, because I will be posting the first part to THAT story once this update is posted. I hope you all enjoyed this story. Thanks again to SS_Larry98 for the idea, it was fun to write! Thank you to all who read it. -Megan :-)