He (Muke Fic)

Chapter Two

"So, I heard about your little...outburst in music class the other day."

Michael flinched slightly as he opened his bedroom door to see his mum, who had apparently been waiting for him to come out of his room.

"How long have you been standing there?"

"I was just about to knock."

"Right."

Michael pushed past his mother, heading towards the bathroom to brush his teeth for the night like he had meant to.

"Do you wanna...talk about it?"

Michael's back stiffened as he heard his mother's voice from outside of the bathroom door, and he squeezed his toothpaste just a bit too hard at the thought, swearing softly as he spilled toothpaste into the sink, running the water to clean it up.

"Not particularly, no."

There was the sound of footsteps walking away, and Michael sighed softly, leaning back against the wall, his head thumping against it, still clutching his toothbrush. He didn't particularly want to be told that he was just "going through a phase" or something like that, and that fear far outweighed any hope of support.

Michael almost threw his toothbrush back in its spot when he finished brushing his teeth, tucking himself in more aggressively than usual, pulling his pillow over his head.

-:-:-:-:-

Michael crossed his arms over his chest as he slowly walked into his first class on Monday, trying to ignore the people who looked at him, some clearly laughing, others turning to talk with their friends. He almost turned and walked right back out, but then Luke lifted his head, and Michael stared at him in terror, almost waiting for Luke to join in with everyone else. But Luke just stood and put his hand on Michael's shoulder, pulling him over to the desk Luke had been sitting at.

"C'mon, over here."

Michael slouched back into his chair, screwing his eyes shut as his chest seemed to grow heavier and his skin began to crawl, flinching back as he heard the words "She thinks she's a guy, isn't that weird?" drift over to him. Luke shifted at the desk next to Michael, and Michael opened his eyes as he heard Luke's voice, quiet, but quite strong.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"Nothing."

Luke hummed, leaning forwards on his hands, towards the girl that had spoken.

"Michael is a guy, and I would love it if you were to refer to him as such."

Luke smiled, and she went pink, nodding furiously. Luke rolled his eyes as he looked at Michael, smiling slightly.

"Don't you just love people?"

"You didn't have to do that."

"You weren't going to. I just wanted to help out."

Michael smiled slightly, and for once, he didn't sit alone at lunch, on a little bench. Instead, Luke dragged him over to a small table, just to keep him company.

"So, what are you doing after school?"

Michael shrugged, picking at the bread on his sandwich.

"Sleeping, probably."

"You wanna come over instead?"

Michael stared at him, and Luke smiled.

"I'm serious, why are you looking at me like that?"

"I wasn't expecting that."

Luke shrugged, stretching slightly.

"Well, I don't wanna hang out with you purely at school, there's no video games here."