room // malum au [in progress]

december 3rd, 2020

the days are always the same. they wake up, tucker goes through his routine of saying good morning to everything, calum makes him breakfast, they get dressed, waste away the day, tucker takes his nap, they eat dinner, bathe, tucker goes to bed and john comes. unless of course calum has one of his bad days like he did today.

"daddy." tucker whispered. "psst daddy wake up." the four year old shakes calum but only gets a groan in response. "daddy please get up." calum shakes his head and rolls over in bed. tucker sighs and climbs over calum to get off the bed.

he totters over to the sink, grabs his step stool and brings it into the kitchen area. he climbs up and grabs a bowl and spoon. he made his way through the morning routine with constant glances towards the bed with an unmoving calum lying underneath the covers. after tucker brushed his teeth he waddled over to calum and climbed back on the bed. he rolled calum onto his back and straddled his waist.

"daddy?" tucker continuously poked calum's face in hopes that he would open his eyes. "daddy please get up. i don't like it when you're sad." calum finally opened his eyes and a smile grew on tucker's face but it didn't last long.

"not today tucker." calum lifted the boy off of him and placed him on the floor. he then rolled back into a ball and threw the covers over him. tucker frowned but walked away. he climbed up on a chair and fiddled around with the tv remote until he found a cartoon suitable to his liking.

tucker wasted the day away in front of the small shitty tv they had. he didn't touch the soccer ball laying under the table, and he didn't even open the coloring book. he occasionally stared at his father who groaned or rolled over a couple times an hour. around late afternoon tucker made a cheese sandwich since he knew he wasn't allowed to touch any knifes or the toaster oven.

when the room started the get dark from the lack of sunlight coming through the skylight tucker knew it was time to go to bed. he switched the tv off and climbed off the chair. he pulled off his clothes and quickly pulled his pajamas on.

"daddy." tucker whispered nudging calum who was completely covered by the blanket. "psst daddy."

"what tuck?" calum groaned pulling the blanket off his face. he rolled over to see the four year old staring at him.

"it's getting late." calum sat up immediately and looked at his watch.

"shit." calum climbed out of bed and picked tucker up. he walked over to the wardrobe and quickly put tucker down on the makeshift bed.

"daddy is it time for john to come?" the four year old asked. calum nodded.

"stay in here okay bud. you know the drill." tucker nodded at calum's instructions. "i'll come get you when he's gone." calum's watch started beeping and the twenty four year old quickly shut the wardrobe door and left tucker in small confine. calum walked back over to the bed and didn't bother pulling on any clothes. he laid down and awaited for the sounds of the code pad. when they finally filled the room he sat back up and watched the door.

"here." john said walking through the door. he tossed a shopping bag at calum and sat down on one of the chairs. "are those the right size?" calum dumped the contents on the bed and sorted through what he had requested. new pajamas and a new sweatshirt for tucker.

"yeah these should fit him. thank you." john nodded and pulled his work boots off.

"why that?" john asked motioning to the new clothing for tucker. "the last three to four requests have been for tucker."

"well it's getting cold and i don't want him to get sick." calum explained. even though there was heating in the room it wasn't much and calum didn't want tucker to get sick. simple as that.

"what about you though?" john pestered. "you haven't asked for new clothes in months." calum shrugged.

"tucker comes first." calum glanced over at the wardrobe and back at john. john was watching the younger man with amusement.

"got any food?" calum shrugged.

"whatever you've brought us we have." john rolled his eyes and stood up from the chair. instead of going over to the mini fridge like calum thought he would he made his way towards the bed.

"i couldn't stop thinking about you today." john purred pushing calum back onto his back. calum's stomach churned at the thought about what was going to happen. he closed his eyes and soon enough it was over.

john pressed a kiss on calum's forehead and walked towards the door.

"turn around." he demanded. calum rolled over like always and waited for john to leave. once the door shut and he knew john was gone calum picked himself up and pulled on his boxers. he opened the wardrobe door and took a step back when he saw that tucker was still awake.

"why are you still awake." calum asked picking up the four year old.

"i couldn't sleep. you didn't get to read me a story." tucker mumbled sleepily. "and i didn't take a bath either." calum sighed and placed tucker on the bed. he walked over, turned on the faucet and watched the bathtub fill with warm water.

"arms up buddy." calum told the little boy. tucker complied and raised his arms so calum could pull his pajama shirt off. "finish." tucker nodded and finished getting undressed. calum turned the faucet off and stripped his boxers off. he jerked his head towards the tub and tucker shuffled over to him. calum picked him up and placed him in the warm water and then climbed in himself.

"are you going to be sad tomorrow daddy?" tucker asked, his brown doe eyes looked at him from across the tub. calum could see the sadness in them. the twenty four year old made grabby hands at his son.

"c'mere." tucker stood up and walked through the water to his father. he sat down inbetween calum's legs and stared up at him.

"i don't like it when you're sad daddy. it makes me sad." calum frowned and wrapped his arms around tucker, pulling him close.

"i'm sorry tuck." calum sighed. "i didn't mean to make you sad."

"i know you didn't mean to daddy." calum grabbed the shampoo and started to wash tucker's hair. "are you going to be sad tomorrow?"

"lean back." calum said, avoiding tucker's question. tucker obeyed his dad's request and leaned his head back and calum rinsed his hair out. they finished their bath and calum quickly dried tucker off and got him back into clothes. he was deathly afraid of the little boy getting sick. last time he was john refused to bring medicine for the boy and tucker was sick for two weeks.

the two were curled up under the blankets for about five minutes before tucker's little voice filled the room with another question.

"hey daddy?"

"what now tuck?" calum mumbled. he looked down at the four year old who was resting his head on his chest.

"how many more days until i turn five?" calum chuckled.

"six days bud."

"okay."

"get some sleep." tucker nodded and closed his eyes, only to open them 20 seconds later.

"hey daddy?"

"now what tuck?"

"you never answered my question in the bath." tucker whispered looking up at this father. "are you going to be sad tomorrow?" calum sighed and rubbed tucker's back.

"i don't know tuck. i can't control it." calum whispered back. "we'll find out in the morning okay?" tucker nodded and nuzzled his head further into calum's chest.

"okay daddy. i love you." tucker's eyes fluttered shut and calum gently pressed a kiss to the top of his head.

"i love you too tuck. i love you too."