Cake One Shots

The Beginning

Age 4

Tiny, chubby hands clung to worn denim, knuckles straining white under bronze skin from the strain. A soft nudge on the shoulder pushed a whimper out of his lips. The encouraging smile plastered on his mother's face did very little to calm his fast beating heart.

Joy sighed, carefully removing the frightened child from her leg before squatting down. "Hey baby, it's gonna be okay."

Red pouty lips quivered, mouth opening and closing just as quickly to prevent anymore whimpers from escaping. Joy ran a couple fingers through the rough curly mop of her son's hair. "I promise that it won't be bad, don't you trust mommy?"

Tears welled up in bright doe brown eyes, "What if they d-don't like me?" It was spoken so softly that Joy had to strain her ears to hear.

"They'll love you, just be yourself and everyone will want to be your friend. You'll have fun, I promise." She pursed her lips as she looked at her son before a mischievous glint appeared in her eyes. The poor boy didn't have time to react as fingers began to move up and down his sides.

Loud and happy giggles filled the empty hallway, the child squirming and pushing with all his might against the tickle monster's grip. "S-Stop, m-mummy p-please." He begged, his stomach aching from laughing too hard.

Joy released her son after a couple minutes, wiping the happy tears with a smile on her face. "Just smile and be happy, you'll be just fine."

"O-Okay." Calum whispered, nervous all over again as he held his hand out for his mother to lead him inside. His palms were sweaty and he briefly wondered if his mom noticed, probably not because her hand was kinda sweaty too.

Too many eyes landed on them as they entered the classroom. He tightened his grip on his mother's hand as he scanned the room with a bated breath. A soft tap on the shoulder made him jump and the class let out a couple giggles, his cheeks flushing red from embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Calum right?" He nodded once and relaxed slightly when she gave him a warm smile. "Well I'm Miss. Gold, it's nice to meet you Calum. How about you go sit in that empty seat in the back?" His gaze traveled to the back of the room, where the only empty seat was left.

"Go Cal, I'll be here to pick you up after school is over, okay?" Joy released her son's hand, trying to hold back tears as she finally realized that her baby was growing up.

"B-Bye mummy." Unable to resist, Calum wrapped his arms around his mother's legs. "I'll miss you."

Joy sniffled, hugging her baby boy back. "I'll miss you too, now go sit in that seat." She gave Calum one last squeeze before letting go. The teacher looked at her, sympathizing with her a little. The last thing she saw as she left the class was her little boy looking like he missed her already.

Once his mother rounded the corner, Calum took that as his cue to go to his seat. He could feel his classmate's eyes as he walked to the furthest table, they practically bore into his skin, engraving themselves into his bones.

When his butt was planted on the seat, the teacher began to speak again. He was too nervous to actually understand what she way saying so he almost fell out of his seat when his sleeve was tugged.

A soft giggle came from his left and blood rushed to his cheeks, staining them a bright pink. "Hi." The blonde boy whispered.

"H-Hi." He stuttered back, looking into really cool blue eyes.

"I'm Luke." His eyes trailed up and down Luke's form, noticing how Luke was slightly chubbier and a lot paler than he was.

"Calum."

Miss. Gold cleared her throat, shaking her head. "Boys? No talking while I'm talking." Both boys flushed scarlet as the attention was shifted over to them. Calum felt a little better when he noticed that he wasn't the only one who got really red in the face.

When the bell for recess rang, Luke immediately grabbed his hand and pulled him outside. "Where are we going?" Calum laughed as they bumped into a couple people. A couple teachers yelled at them to slow down but it was all in a lighthearted tone.

They finally stopped underneath one of the big trees, "Here!" Luke exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air before plopping down on the base of the tree. Calum eyed the tree, raising a brow at Luke when he finished his inspection.

"Why?"

Luke shrugged, "It's quieter here." It was a good enough explanation for Calum as he plopped down right next to Luke, leaning against the rough bark. "So what do you like to do?"

"I like to play." Calum answered, brows furrowing when he saw a kid dump sand on another kid. He hated it when Mali did that to him whenever they went to the beach and he briefly wondered if the kid did too.

"Me too!" Luke's voice tore his attention from the small commotion at the sand box. "I play with Ben and Jack!"

"Ben and Jack?" Calum's head cocked to the side, making him look like a puppy for a second.

The blonde boy giggled, "You look like a puppy, like Molly! But smaller and less furry and soft." Thin pink lips jutted out just a little, "I want another puppy."

Excitement etched itself onto the older boy's face. "You have a puppy?! I want one but mom and dad always say no and its no fair!" Calum said, pouting towards the end.

"Don't be sad Cally, puppies shouldn't be sad." Crystal blue eyes glazed over with unshed tears as realization hit, "I-I'm not a puppy." A couple tears made their way down Luke's cheek as he softly cried and sniffled.

Small hands carefully wiped the tears that fell down chubby porcelain cheeks. "Lukey shouldn't be sad either." In an attempt to cheer the other boy up, Calum blurted out what's been on his mind for the past few hours. "Your eyes are cool." He almost wanted to take it back when those blue eyes stared into his own, freezing him in place as they bore into his soul.

"They're blue, what's so cool?" Luke sniffled, his crying ceasing as confusion morphed his facial expressions.

"Exactly! I only have brown eyes, they're so boring." Calum pouted, snapping out of whatever Luke did to him. Maybe Luke had a superpower, like superman!

"I like them."

A smile spread across Calum's face, hope igniting in his eyes. "Really?"

Luke nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah! Now let's go play!" Laughter bubbled out of the older boy's throat as he was once again pulled by the blonde boy across the playground.

By the time the thirty minute recess was up, both boys were sweating slightly with huge grins plastered on their faces. "Did you kids have fun?" Miss. Gold asked the class. All twenty four kids nodded in unison, their eyes darting to their new best friend. "Good! Now I know you guys must be feeling tired, so we're gonna take a twenty minute nap, okay?"

It took about ten minutes to pull out all the mats and blankets, then another five minutes to set everything up. "Sleep next to me." Luke demanded, tugging on Calum's shorts to make him sit down. Heat creeped up the brunette's neck, settling once it reached his cheeks. "Why're you always red?"

"I don't know." Calum mumbled, covering his face with his hands out of embarrassment.

Luke shrugged, a yawn leaving his lips as his eyes began to droop. "M'sleepy now, sleep Cally."

"Okay." Calum mumbled, lying down and cuddling up to the blonde who already had an arm wrapped protectively around his waist. "Night Lukey." The blonde just grunted, exhausted from running around too much. Fighting the urge to giggle, Calum buried his face in Luke's chest and ignored the soft snores and the fluttery feeling in his stomach as he slowly drifted into oblivion.

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AN: I didn't forget about this book, I've just been unmotivated lately. Sorry that it's super short, I was going to write them growing up and whatever but I didn't know what to write. So enjoy this quick Drabble and I hope you guys have a good day!