Thanatophobia| MICHAEL AFTON x READER

33| Island Song

1st person Michael Afton POV

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It was 8 am, and I still haven't gotten that call from Y/N. I left a stream of messages to them on their phone. 

'are you okay?'
'having trouble?'
'im bored'
'are you okay'
'are you okay'
'Please answer my messages when you see them'
'please respond'
'please respond'
'please respondn'
'     *respond'

I was left on read, but this only sent me into a slight panic. my chest only felt a lot tighter, and my skin only felt incredibly more hot, as if I were running a fever. I didn't get a text back until 9:30 am. 

'having some trouble. It's that time of the month! >:('

I squint my eyes at my phone, biting my lip as I text back. 

'that time of the month? Are you okay?'

they respond almost instantly

'just a bit of pain. pick me up something from the store on the way home?' 

A BIT OF PAIN?! Y/N is in pain, this is NOT good...

'sure thing ;)' 

I text back. They leave me on read once more, so I turn off my phone, exhaling quickly. I manage to catch one of the female employees passing by me with a load of dishes. 

"Woah...Sorry Mr. Schmidt, almost ran into you..." They said shortly, giving me a weird look. 

"Do you know what it means when someone says 'that time of the month'" I ask, waving my phone in their face so they were able to read Y/N's message. Their face went pale, and they looked like they were going to laugh. 

"that's a very forward question in'it?" they laughed, pushing my phone away with their one free hand. "sound like they're having some womanly problems, mate." 

I felt my face go hot when I understood what they were saying. I smacked myself on the forehead, but I ended up just smacking the mask. 

"ooff...god I'm stupid...this is embarassin'..." I put my phone back into my pocket and pat them on the shoulder. "Sorry to bother. Carry on." 

They didn't even look back. They left quickly and without any hesitation. None of the employees here like me, but the pay is good and the entertainment is fun, so they don't complain. 

I stride to the employee back office, where a few people are taking their breaks. I wave at them as I pass, but get nothing in return. 

"Im clocking out early," I say cooly, not expecting so much as a huff from anyone. 

"It's 10 in the morning...you haven't even been here 3 hours..." One of them says I felt my eye twitch. 

"I've been here since 4 am, actually, and I seem to do more work than anyone around here, so Im taking off early to go take care of some personal business." I scoff, putting my time card into the punch machine, which hardly even worked. I could practically hear their eyes roll as I took the back door out of the building. 

I slam the door behind me to add a bit more spice to it...

I take out my phone once more and open my messages to Y/N. 

'i'll be there in a bit' 

I send, and they respond, again, almost instantly. 

'you're working.'

I shake my head

'Clocked out early.' 

I send that, then put my phone back into my pocket. It buzzes twice, but I'm already too busy walking down the street to check it. I go to Tesco, which is the closest shop there is to Y/N's building. However, I draw a blank whenever I step in. I don't know what Y/N wants...what kind of stuff helps with this kind of thing? I decide to pull out my phone to use google...

'why?'
'Mike doesn't do that'

were the messages from Y/N. I sent back

'<3'

then opened google...

my searches were easy and I understood them in a very simple way. They seemed a bit extreme, but oh well, anything for them, right?

exactly. 

my trip to Tesco lasted until 1:30, and I left with multiple bags of things, as well as a few extra things that I hoped would just make them happy in general. 

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I get to their building at 11 am. I was able to let myself in...it was a struggle carrying everything up the stairs, but they must have heard me coming, seeing as they were waiting with an open door whenever I got to the top. 

"Mikey, seriously?" They said lowly, reaching to give me a hand with the bags..I refused their help, however, and moved passed them and into the flat. They closed the door behind me.

"I got you some things!" I said enthusiastically, earning a grin from them. 

"I see that..." 

I begin to unpack the bags, naming off each thing as I did. 

"Herbal tea, chocolate, mints, Tylenol, a heated water bottle- I didn't know there was such a thing! how cool is that?!" I said, waving the heated water bottle in front of them. They watched, looking amused. "I also got a few snacks- the ones you like, obviously." 

"Mike, this is wonderfu-"

"Oh! oh oh oh! And I got you these. I know they're you're favorite." I said, picking up the small bouquet of flowers I grabbed last minute before I left. It was tiny...it had maybe 5 flowers in it? But it was still pretty...

"Oh...Mikey-" 

"I would have gotten something bigger, but I haven't gotten paid yet, so I was on a budget and stuff..." I said slowly, grinning as they took the flowers from my hand, setting them in an empty, random vase that was on the counter. 

"You're wonderful, Mikey." They said cooly. "Thank you- but you really didn't need to leave work so early-" 

"it's really no trouble. there is a lot of staff, and I've been there since 4- so- you know- it's fine, but anyways-" I turn to face the counter and I fold up the bags. they were reusable, so I hung them on a cabinet handle for later use. 

"Let me help-" 

"No, I've got it." I cut them off, holding my hand up to stop them from doing anything. 

"Im not a frail old lady, Michael, I can put away groceries." They said softly. I winced at that name. 

"Well...still. I was the one that bought all of it, so it only makes sense that I put it away." I shrugged, my tone low. There was a moment of silence. 

I know they listened because they just hummed and left the kitchen, taking one of the boxes of sweets with them while they did. 

I admit, maybe I'm overreacting. This is something they have dealt with their whole life, and here I am parading around with all of this stuff and weird research...leaving work early, shoving flowers in their face, getting overly excited over a heated water bottle. 

I start to get over self-conscious as I put away everything. I rethink the things  I said to them and cringe because my over-excitement to me wanting them to feel better was cringy and weird. It makes me sound like some weirdo boyfriend obsessed with how my partner feels. 

"Darling," I said softly as I come out of the kitchen. "I have that water bottle..do you need it?" I asked, holding up the now full, hot water bottle. They just shrugged and nodded, holding their hand out so I could give it to them. I didn't know what they did with it, But they hid it under their blanket when I gave it...

"Thanks." They said shortly, grinning at me for a moment before looking at the telly once more. 

I have no idea if that was a good thing or not. 

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hah, chapters about periods. get over it. 

I got incredibly distracted like 6 times during this chapter because my partner put on this cool carpet cleaning video. send help, thanks