room // malum au [in progress]

january 29th, 2021

"you ready to go?" calum looked up from tucker to see his parents and mali standing by the door. david was holding their two small bags filled with clothes in his hands.

"yeah i think we are." he said standing up before picking up tucker.

"i suggest you put sunglasses on him because his eyes may have trouble adjusting to the light and he needs to wear this mask." doctor ross said handing calum one of those foam surgical masks.

"is the mask really necessary?" calum asked taking the mask.

"he's never been out into the real world before. he's getting exposed to so many different forms of bacteria that he's never come into contact with before. it's better safe then sorry." the doctor explained. calum nodded and placed tucker back down on the bed.

the twenty five year old knelt down and put the mask on tucker. he grabbed michael's aviators off the bedside table and slid them onto the little boy's face.

"you ready to go?" calum asked tucker quietly.

"yeah." tucker mumbled through the mask. he stuck out his arms and calum hoisted him back up into his arms.

"alright let's go." calum said turning towards his family. they all nodded and led calum out of the room and towards the elevator.

"you nervous?" mali asked once the doors shut and they started their descent.

"i dunno." calum shrugged. "excited to finally be able to go home."

"is michael stopping by later?"

"maybe." calum mumbled.

"alright. let's get you home."

the family exited the elevator and was greeting by officer jones and two male officers calum didn't recognize.

"so we're going to escort you to the car and then to your house." officer jones explained. "there is quite a lot of reporters both here and at your residence so we need to move quickly. any questions?"

"have they found him yet?" calum asked quietly. officer jones frowned and walked over to calum.

"not yet hun but they found a lead this morning." she said softly. "they're doing everything they can."

"it's been almost three weeks." calum mumbled. "how have you not found him yet?"

"i know hun." she sighed. "they'll find him i promise. the lead they have is a good one trust me."

"yeah okay whatever." calum muttered. "let's just go." officer jones nodded and led them outside.

they were bombarded with camera flashes, microphones getting thrusted in their direction, yelling and screaming. absolute chaos.

tucker buried his head in calum's neck and started to whimper. the two male officers were pushing their way through the crowd while officer jones kept her hand on calum's arm, keeping him close. once everyone was in the car officer jones climbed into one of the patrol cars and they began driving towards calum's childhood home.

calum spent the twenty minute drive pointing things out to tucker, who was sitting in his lap, and watching his reactions to said things. they were in their own little bubble and no one else was allowed in it. calum was more than grateful to be out back in the world but right now no one mattered more to him then tucker. it is always going to be tucker first for now on.

when they finally arrived at the residence officer jones quickly lead them out of the car and into the house. once safe behind the doors calum placed tucker down and took off the sunglasses and surgical mask.