Give me Michael - Malum AU

.26.

Luke and Ashton were lying on the younger's bed. They were supposed to work on the music project but they so not wanted to do that. So they had ended lying on the bed, side by side, watching an horror movie. Obviously, Luke had agreed to that just for seeing the curly boy happy but he was so scared already, and it was not even 20 minutes into the film. He got closer to his friend, wanting to feel a little bit safer. Ashton, noticing how scared the younger was, put his arm around the younger blond shoulder and held him tight. Both their heartbeat fastened. They both craved for more, but none of them had the gutts to move closer. The movie was soon completely forgotten. The older was thinking of his conversation with his best friend. Maybe he could give it a shot. He turned his look to the younger and their eyes met. He bit his bottom lip before whispering.

"Can I try something? If it makes you uncomfortable, tell me and I will back off..."

The younger nodded and waited. He wished the older was going to kiss him and his eyes widened when he understood that it was indeed what Ashton had planned to do. It was maybe his only chance, he wasn't going to mess it up.

Both of them closed their eyes as their lips collapsed. It was slow, sweet. It was probably their best kiss ever. Both of them could feel fireworks in their stomach and they would lie if they said they didn't like it. Luke's hands gripped Ashton's hair which caused the curly boy to nearly moaned. He had hold it back just in time. They stopped the kiss because they needed to breathe, but stayed as closed as they could.

"You didn't freak out...?"

That was the first thing Ashton whispered, which made Luke giggled.

"Why would I? Because the boy I like kisses me?"

That was it. Ashton had taken the first step, and he had taken the second one. He felt stressed kicking in but was soon calmer when Ashton smiled and put a kiss on his cheeck.

"I think I like you too, Lukey, but I need us to go slow, please."

The younger nodded, understanding perfectly what his friend meant.

"We'll take as much time as you need."

And with that, their lips were pressed together again.

****

Michael was glad he got to be dismissed out of the hospital. Another thing he was glad for was the fact that he would be going to Mrs Irwin's house and would stay there for a while. He sure as hell was happy to be away from his parents, but he had to admit that he was anxious about how things would turn out. He didn't know if they would be send to jail or not. He didn't know for how much time they would. He didn't know if he was going to stay in Australia or if he would be send away. There were so many different questions in his mind! He didn't know the answer for any of them and it was stressing him out. However, he was trying to say positive. He had to stay positive.

Mrs Irwin entered the room and smiled at the small boy. She approached him and without warning, he came between her arms and hugged her. He needed to see that he wasn't alone and most of all, that someone cared about him. She hugged him back, kissing his cheek.

"You're alright darling?"

"I think so, yeah. I'm sorry about that." The teenager answered.

"No need to apologise. Just know that, from now on, if you ever need someone to talk to or someone to hug you, I am here."

"Thank you Mrs Irwin."

"No Mrs Irwin between us. Call me Anne-Marie or just Anne."

Michael nodded and went back to packing his stuff he had at the hospital. He had had the surgery only one week ago, but he was feeling okay, just extremely tired. He was sick of staying in bed all day long; he needed to move, even though doctors were telling him to have some rest. Anne-Marie signed every paper she needed to get him out of here and soon they both were in the car. The woman began to drive and at the same time she started a conversion on something that would probably not pleased the young man by her side.

"You have an appointment with a therapist tomorrow morning." She went straight to the point as there was no purpose trying to tell it otherwise, not with Michael.

"I don't need to go." His voice was harder than he thought. He was going to apologise when Mrs Irwin spoke again.

"I know you're trying to convince everyone that you're okay, that you're... strong. And you are, Michael, you are strong. However, being strong doesn't mean that you don't need a little bit of help from time to times. Being strong means that you know when you should accept the help that other people are offering you and I can tell that the boy I saw on the hospital bed talking about his parents abusing him or the boy that hugged me, wasn't fine. He needed help. This isn't a shame. Therefore, you have an appointment with a therapist tomorrow."

"Thank you Anne."

By the tone of his voice, she knew he wasn't only saying thank you for her monologue, or for the therapist. He was thanking her for everything she had done to him and everything she would keep doing. He was thanking her for being nice to him and welcoming and being kind of the mother he had never had.

They soon arrived at the house, and they entered, Mrs Irwin carrying Michael's bags, not without any protest from the latter. They went upstairs and she led him to a bedroom.

"This is the spare bedroom but now it is all yours. Put posters on the walls and pictures on your desk. Whatever makes you feel homey."

"Thanks! I was wondering... would it be possible to go get my guitar and some other stuff at my house, please?"

"Sure darling."

The woman dropped the bags on the floor and smiled at the young man. Together they went back to the car. The journey to Michael's house was quiet. The blue haired boy was scared to go there again. Anne could see how stressed the teenager was. She was seeing him wiggling his legs, scratching his arms, trying to stready his breathing but she didn't know how to help him. He had every right to feel like this when going back to that house. So she let him be. She too soon parked in front of the house and Michael tensed.

"Do you want to go alone or do you want us to go together in there?"

"I think I need to do that alone."

The woman nodded as he got out of the car. He could see some of his neighboors peering him but he shrugged it off. He took the key under the flower pot since he had not his own with him and unlocked the door. He could feel his heart tightening. He let out a long shaky breath and entered. He went straight in his room and took everything he needed and wanted, which meant everything that belonged to him in his room. He paused a second, seeing the picture of Calum and he and he smiled, hoping that maybe one day they would take other pictures like this one. He finished packing his stuff and looked a last time at his room. He knew he would never come back here. Whether his parents would be sent to jail or not, he would never come back here. As he exited to house he watched it a last time and walked away to Mrs Irwin's car. He might finally getting everything fixed. He might finally found happiness and friends again.