fight club. lh ; mc.

diez. (the end.)

"It's taken me, like, ten days to work up the courage to actually call you." Luke's voice cracks and Michael fights the urge to laugh at that, to laugh at how broken Luke sounds because damn, the boy has some fucking nerve.

"It's taken me ten days to stop myself from hauling ass down the street and knocking you the fuck out." Michael speaks, voice deadpan and he hears Luke's sharp intake of breath. Michael grips his phone a little tighter.

"Wouldn't be the first time you did that," Luke cracks, a forced laugh echoing down the speaker and Michael could really strangle him with his bare hands.

"Nope, I just like to see you suffer. Unlike you, you take a backseat and pretend like you don't know I'm suffering and dying a little on the inside. You know something? I actually fucking liked you, how stupid is that? I liked you so much that I let you in and I let you fuck me, and even after all these days of you ignoring me and pretending like I don't exist, I still fucking like you." Michael lets the angry, hot tears fall down his cheeks silently, wiping them away furiously with his sweater sleeve.

"I don't know how to deal with feelings, Michael. I've never been good with those." Luke admits, voice sounding sheepish, "I just run away from everything, I don't know."

Michael ignores everything Luke says, "You've been on the phone for ten minutes and you still haven't given me a reason or an apology. You're a shitty person."

"I know." Luke sighs, "I know I'm a shitty person. I'm no good for you, you deserve to have someone who actually likes you and can look after you and appreciate you." 

Michael feels his chest tighten, "Oh my god, I did not hear that." His voice wavers, "Did you honestly graft on me for so long, try to get with me, then get me, when you didn't even like me like that?"

Michael's met with silence and this time he doesn't fight tears, he lets them stream because god he feels so fucking worthless. Luke is the only person to ever make Michael feel this low.

"I'm sorry, Michael," Luke breathes, and Michael actually wants to collapse, he wants to just curl up in a ball and cry.

"Don't tell me you're fucking sorry!" Michael roars, "You're not sorry! You did this because you knew I was easy, I knew you never gave a shit about me! You're just like everyone says you are, you're an asshole who only gives a shit about himself and his own feelings. Well, how does it feel, Luke? To know that everyone around you hates you and can't stand you, they only put up with you because you're the whore who fucks them all when they so much as bat their eyelashes! Get the fuck out of my life, tell Ashton I quit, I am never going back there, so long as you're around, I want nothing to do with any of you. Have a good life, Luke, I hope you end up alone."

Michael throws his phone across the room and it shatters, his body drops to the floor in a heap as he lets the tears continue to pour, until they're running down his neck and his chest messily.

-----------------------

Michael picks himself back up after two days and lazily packs his bags, ready to move back home and live with his mum. He's ready to just go home and go back to his job at the cafe, he wants his normal life.

"You're not skipping town on me without saying goodbye, are you?" Ashley says from Michael's doorway, once blonde hair now a harsh grey, but Michael still think she looks beautiful.

"So you finally got told where I lived?" Michael asks, a small smile playing on the corners of his lips as she enters the room and pulls him into a hug.

"Yeah, Lynn decided it was about time someone told me where you were, so she gave me your address." Ashley smiles, "You ready for seeing your mum?"