the tie that binds. lh ; mc.

uno.

Michael misses his mum's rude awakenings at eight in the morning.

He moved out three weeks ago, and honestly he misses his mum nagging at him to move and get motivated, he misses his dad mocking him for being a lazy smartass, and he misses his dog Federer loudly barking at the postman.

But he loves waking up next to Calum and he loves his new apartment, so it almost makes up for how much he misses his family.

Calum tosses and turns in his sleep, his naked torso on full display from where the sheets had slipped down due to his uneasy sleep. Michael watches the darker boy with hazy, tired eyes, and a smile creeps it's way onto his lips because damn, he's so lucky.

The boy came to visit Michael at New Year and afterwards it was hard to get rid of him. Calum clung to Michael and things progressed fast. It was only March now, and they'd been together for eight weeks before Michael decided it was time they moved in together.

Calum never mentioned to anyone that Michael had moved back, Ashton had no idea, Ashley had no idea, nobody had a clue. Michael kept himself lowkey, he had enrolled in an online college and barely left the house due to the amount of coursework, so when he did go out for whatever reason, he never saw anybody he knew.

He was glad, there were few people he genuinely wanted to see around this area of Sydney, and the less of them he had to run into, the better.

Calum rolls over onto his other side, so now his back is facing Michael and the now blonde sighs, running a hand through his hair as he sits up and plants his feet on the plush carpet.

He leaves the room as quietly as possible, leaving Calum snoring quietly. Michael grabs towels out of the clean laundry basket, and makes his way towards the bathroom. He turns the shower on, water as hot as possible as he strips bare.

The one thing he hates about the apartment? The floor length mirror that stands in the bathroom.

Michael runs his fingers over all of his old war wounds from his boxing days. Everything is crooked, discoloured or scarred and he hates it, he absolutely hates the way his body looks.

He turns away in disgust, stepping under the hot stream of water. He makes sure to keep his eyes adverted from his body the entire time he showers.

+++++

"Not too fast, Hemmings, you can't get by me that easily." Ashton says, putting a hand out in front of Luke to stop him going any further.

Luke hisses, cursing under his breath because he really thought Ashton wouldn't be in the club today and they wouldn't have to talk about what happened.

Luke looks up at his boss, one eye black and one eye a faded blue. His eye is bloodshot from a popped vein, and his face is discoloured.

He's ashamed to admit that it was Ashton who caused it, and all for the wrong reasons.

"Listen, Ash, I swear I didn't mean for it to-"

"Save it, Luke. I know what I saw, and it was fucking wrong of you. I didn't even know you were into girls, let alone my girl. I know your head has been fucked up since Michael left but fuck, what you did was so shitty and uncalled for." Ashton sighs, a look of hurt in his eyes.

Ashton and Luke had been best friends since they were eleven, and the older felt so betrayed that Luke would go after Ashley, when he knew how much the girl meant to Ashton.

"I was drunk, Ashton. I swear I would never have done it if I was sober, I don't know what came over me. Ashley is like a sister to me I would never..." Luke shakes his head at the thought, so disappointed in himself and his actions.

"What happened, happened. I'm over it, but Ashley deserves an apology too. She's felt like absolute shit since you came on to her, and not for the reason you think. Go apologise, and I swear to god if I see you near her again, I'll make sure it's the last time, got it?" Ashton seethes, his eyes narrowed in on Luke and fuck, if looks could kill.

Luke nods his head, not meeting Ashton's eyes as he moves by him and into the changing rooms.

He's greeted by Calum, looking as tired as ever, bags under his eyes double the size they usually are.

"You look like shit." Luke notes as he throws his gym bag on the bench, stripping off his shirt.

"Yeah, Mi-" Calum stops himself, cringing, "my new guy kept me up all night last night. He has bad night terrors and he doesn't sleep well. I feel more at ease knowing I'm awake to comfort him if he wakes up and needs me."

Luke makes a fake gagging noise, scrunching his face up at Calum, "Damn, Cal. Changed days from how you used to be."

Calum sighs, rubbing at his tired eyes, "Can I tell you something?" He asks and Luke nods, "I just think shit between me and this guy has moved too fast. He's so broken and I dunno how to look after him, I'm trying so hard but I don't think I'm doing good enough. My heart isn't as in it as I thought it was, maybe we were just better off being friends or fuck buddies or whatever we were before."

Luke sits down next to his friend, patting him on the back, "You want my advice? Just tell the guy how you feel, it'll either fix it or end it and either way it'll be better than keeping things how they are now."

Calum nods and then scoffs, shoving Luke away playfully, "Fuck off, Ghandi."

Calum leaves out the part he wanted to say the most, the part where he told Luke that he knew Michael was still in love with him.

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HELLO GUYS LOOK WHOS BACK!!!!
I decided it was about time I posted the start of the sequel to fight club and it's already angsty as HELL I hope you all loved it 💖

Let me know what you think and don't forget to leave kudos and comments!