Clock in || Securitywaiter

5

"No, I'm not taking care of him anymore"
"He's our son"
"He's your son, he's not mine, not anymore."
"Mike"

"Mike"

"Mike!" Mike opened his eyes, seeing Abby standing by his bed holding a phone.
"Abby?"
"Ness is on the phone," she handed it to him, he put it up to his ear.
"Hello..?"
"Do you want me to come over?"
"Huh?" Mike rubbed his eyes.
"Abby said you needed help, do you want me to come over?"
"I'm really sorry, I don't know why she called you this early, please, go back to sleep, enjoy your day off"
"Well not to be that guy, but I was thinking back to last night..the way you acted, it was concerning, so I'm just guessing that that's where she got the idea from, she's just trying to look after her big brother"
"Look, I don't wanna make you come over, I don't think I need any help with anything, I just woke up man, if we could forget about this whole thing, even back to last night..I'd rather not think about it ever again"
"Okay, well if you change your mind and do want to think about it again, perhaps even get into it, I'm here to listen"
"I'll consider it, thanks for caring enough to pick up the phone"
"Any time"

The call ended, Mike set down the phone, looking over to Abby.

"Abby, why did you call Ness?"
"You were sad," Mike sighed.
"I appreciate the concern, but I wasn't sad, I was stressed"
"I think you should invite him over"
"I just told him not to"
"Tell him you changed your mind"
"But I don't need help"
"Mike you don't talk to anyone"
"What?"
"About anything, ever, you hold it in and cry in your room so I don't see you, I want you to talk to him, I don't want you to be like Dad"

He was like him now, wasn't he? The way he used to get upset at his dad..he was doing the same thing to Abby, he didn't want to be like that, he wanted Abby to have a better home life than he did after losing Garett, he needed to talk to someone, he had to call Ness.

"Go get changed, I'm calling Ness"

~

"Hi"
"Hi..sorry- come in," Mike stepped out of the way, allowing Ness in.

"You changed your mind pretty quickly"
"I don't want to talk about things, but I know I should, it's hard for me, I've never had anyone who I felt comfortable enough with to talk to"
"Well, I'm glad you called, this'll be good for you, you'll see"
"Uh..let's go to my room"

~

"I see you work out"
"Yeah, pretty much the only thing I got going for me," Mike closed the door.
"You aren't one of those crazy gym bros are you?"
"No thankfully, I'm very self conscious," he sat down on his bed.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Ness joined him.
"Uhm, maybe some other time," Mike hunched over, pulling at the front of his shirt.
"That's alright, so the reason you called me over.."
"My mental health has been terrible most of my life, some things that happened recently just made it worse honestly, I usually wouldn't care, but Abby's been noticing and I don't want her to have to go through what I did, it's hard though, I'd rather keep everything in than bother someone with my shit..I'm realizing now that I can't keep quiet forever, I'll break eventually..like I did last night, I've never been so embarrassed." He sighed shakily into his hands.

He took a deep breath, pulling himself back together.

"I was trying to act strong, but when we got home, Abby grabbed my hand and I just broke down, she took care of me, she made us dinner when I couldn't, I'm thankful for her, but I also just feel like shit about it. She shouldn't have to take care of me, she's ten, I feel like I failed her." Ness put his hand on Mike's shoulder.
"You're doing your best Mike, no one's perfect, you're not always going to get everything right, and I know you think you don't need someone to take care of you from time to time, but it's okay to ask for help, especially when it feels like you're drowning. You can't always pick yourself back up, you might need someone to lend you a hand"

Mike placed his hand on top of Ness', pulling it off his shoulder and lacing their fingers together, he closed his eyes, taking in the warmth from the taller's palm.

"It might not have seemed like it, but after work, when I went to pick up Abby, seeing your face made me feel a bit better. Those guys back at my construction job know something about me, they like to pick at me for it, they make me feel like I'm some sort of animal, they don't use my name, they don't let me have breaks, they give me the most difficult and dangerous jobs, and I can't leave because I really need the money. I feel trapped, and I can't do anything about it because it's especially hard for me to find work. I thought about letting a few things go, like maybe getting rid of the tv, but Abby likes it, all of that shit is worth it just to see her happy." Ness rubbed his thumb against Mike's comfortingly.
"So..I have an offer, and I highly suggest you take me up on it"
"It depends, is my dignity at risk?"
"If you're okay with uniforms, then no"
"Uniforms?"
"I can get you a job at Sparky's"
"What.."
"You look like you've just seen a ghost"
"Sorry I just..you'd do that?"
"Hell yeah, after everything you just told me," Ness gave his hand a gentle squeeze.
"How's the pay? Will I still need two jobs?"
"Well it's good enough for me, but then again, it's just me and my cat in an apartment, so..most likely, yes, but it's a much better work environment and-"

The smaller pulled him into a hug, Ness froze, taken by surprise.

"You're hugging me"
"Yeah, is that okay?"
"Uhm..yes," Ness hesitantly wrapped his arms around him, feeling himself relax.
"Thank you."
"Of course, are you a hugger?"
"No, not really, I generally don't like to be touched"
"Huh..so why did you grab my hand and are now hugging me?"
"I don't know, I guess I just don't feel uncomfortable like I usually do"
"You feel comfortable around me?"
"Yeah, is that weird?"
"We'll have to get a third opinion on that because I feel the same," Mike felt his face heat up, he pulled away from the hug.
"Well I think I've told you all that I'm comfortable with for now, you wanna go find Abby?"
"Oh yeah, she said she'd show me around her room earlier"

~

After Abby finished showing Ness around her room, she made the two play toys with her.

"You be the girl Mike," she handed him a pony.
"What! Why do I have to be the girl?"
"Because you make a funny voice"
"Come on, in front of Ness?"
"He'll think it's funny, please Mike?"
"Yeah, please Mike? I really want to hear this voice now"
"You're going to make me hurt myself"
"Sorry, what?"
"My vocal chords," he clarified.
"Oh okay, I thought you meant something else, please, hurt your vocal chords for the sake of the bit"

Mike sighed, clearing his throat.

"So y'all wanna go shopping or what?"

Abby and Ness lived for it, they laughed more than they played, although he hated doing it, it was worth it in the end, he got to see his two favorite people laugh up a storm.