faerie • muke [v slow updates]

4°

"luke," his mother says, shaking the boy awake. "wake up, honey."

at the sound of a voice, michael startles. then he realizes he slept over at the hemmings house and relaxes a little. he glances over to see luke rolling over to ignore his mom liz's call until he rolls into michael. this causes him to instantly wake up and roll back to look at his mom with wide eyes.

"morning luke," she laughs. there's warning in her eyes that michael can't see, because he's gotten up and turned to luke's mirror to adjust the clothes he fell asleep in. "hurry and get ready for school, and i'll drop you and michael off on my way to take jo to kindergarten." luke nods, and she leaves the room.

"how do you feel?" michael asks, turning to look back at luke. the lilac-haired boy is still in shock that michael slept over, and nothing is in place. he'd imagined eventually letting michael sleep over for real, but not like this. whenever he snuck over after his parents have an episode, it was usually three or four in the morning. by that point, luke knew he wouldn't fall back asleep, so he'd just cuddle and talk to michael. he also had a few quick minutes to throw anything faerie-related into his closet or a drawer before going downstairs to let michael in. last night, he barely had enough time to take off his skirt and climb into bed.

"i-i think i'm better now. i must've been overtired or something," luke finally says, getting up and running into the bathroom. luckily, he was still in his boxers, so michael hopefully assumed that he was just too tired for the pants he usually wore to bed. his mom had swept all his makeup into a basket and put it under the sink, where michael could only assume it belonged to her and not his boyfriend. luke scrubs his face, thankful he didn't put on any foundation the previous afternoon. he had a bit of mascara circles under his eyes, but he hopes it just contributed to the sick look. sighing, luke finishes by brushing his teeth and walking back to his room.

there, michael is sitting on luke's bed. it was clear that he'd just made it and was playing on his phone. luke grabs a pair of black jeans off his floor, walking to his dresser. "do you want a new top at least?" luke asks, rooting around in his drawers, glad it happened to be a dress down day at school. 

"hmm? uh, i guess so," michael says, feeling bad that he's borrowing a shirt from luke. a piece of fabric hits him in the head, making michael grin a little bit when he sees it's one of his old shirts. "giving me my own shirt now? you sure you don't want to keep it?"

"i have more," luke says, walking into his closet to change. he doesn't want to walk out carrying a pair of dirty panties, or leave them in his closet, so he decides to leave them on for the day as his underwear under the jeans. luke exchanges his sleeping shirt for an all time low band t-shirt, walking out of the closet as he pulls it down. he looks in his mirror, sighing. he doesn't really like how he dresses at school, but it's so much easier to fit the mould. plus, it keeps his faerie identity hidden better than if he wore what he likes to wear as a faerie. "did you need to stop by your house before we get to school?" luke asks as he leads michael downstairs, his own gym bag turned backpack on his shoulder.

"god no, if i go back while my parents are home now it won't be pretty. i was gone all night- i came here at like 9:30, and now it's seven the next morning. i'll deal with it sometime after school," michael says casually, as if he wasn't talking about how his parents abuse him. "i'll just tell your mom i have what i need for school in my locker."

luke sighs, not for the first time that morning. "okay, but you know i hate that you won't tell anybody, right?"

michael hums, walking downstairs into the kitchen and grabbing an orange to slip into his pocket, and a banana that he begins to peel. he decides to end the conversation there, not wanting to fight about it. luke follows, and is about to make a case for the  umpteenth time when his mom bustles in, telling the boys to hurry out to the car. luke heads to the foyer, and sits on the bench there to slip on some all black vans. michael doesn't bother sitting as he slips on the same converse he's had for as long as luke has known him. they've seen better days, but since they're so worn in, michael can pull them on quickly.

they move out to the car, where josephine has an ipad in her lap and headphones over her ears, and liz is sitting in the driver's seat. luke and michael climb into the passenger seat and beside jo respectively, and the ride begins. luke flicks on the radio, a current pop hit playing through the car.

pulling up to the school, liz wishes both boys a good day, watching them leave. as soon as the car doors are closed, jo takes off her headphones. "mommy, how come i'm not allowed to talk to luke's friend?"

glancing in the rear-view mirror to look at her daughter as she pulls out of the school parking lot, she honestly says: "jo, we have to keep the fact that we're faeries a secret. michael isn't allowed to know. he also isn't a good person."

"but mommy, why does luke talk to him then?"

"well baby, luke is old enough to make his own choices. he knows what will happen if he exposes all faeries and his human friend doesn't react well. besides, his friend is moving next year to go to a far away school," she says, eyes on the road as they drove to josephine's school. she went to a supernatural school, as did luke until he was old enough to understand the severity of not keeping the existence of faeries a secret.

"okay," she said, satisfied with the answer. soon enough they got to school, and after her second drop-off of the day liz drove to the hospital where she worked as a nurse. 

a/n: how is michael so oblivious like boy why don't u question some of the things the hemmings do