Paper Thin (muke)

24: roadtrips

Michael tried his hardest to write, he truly did. But he only got about three pages in before the yelling began. It wasn't a surprise, not really. He'd known since the moment he first met Calum that the other didn't care for him, even less so when he started dating Luke. He wasn't sure how Luke could be so oblivious to it when everyone around them could tell, but that was the beauty of Luke. He was so innocent and saw the best in absolutely everyone. It pained Michael to know that Luke was finally learning the truth; that the veil was being lifted from his picture perfect friendship to reveal the dirty truth Calum had not so subtlely been hiding for years, taking advantage of Luke's naivety and desperation for love and acceptance. The more Michael thought about it, the more it bothered him, and he had to take a deep breath to stop himself from barging in to their conversation and giving Calum a real piece of his mind.

The yelling got louder, so loud that Michael couldn't even pretend not to hear it, and he was seconds away from running over to Luke's and breaking down the door when the yelling stopped. Michael didn't know what was worse, the yelling or the silence that followed. His heart palpitated as he imagined what was going on next door. Was Luke having flashbacks? What if it was another seizure? What if all of the yelling sent him into another panic attack?

All he could hear for a couple of seconds was the drip, drip, drip of his kitchen faucet and the pounding of his heart as he strained to hear if Luke was okay. When he heard his boyfriend's voice again, he let out a gasping breath he hadn't even realized he was holding.

"Don't even think about it."

Think about what? Luke's voice was eerily calm in a way Michael had never heard before, a monotonous authority in the low timbre that made the hair on the back of Michael's neck stand up.

"Luke, no, I wouldn't-"

Wouldn't what? Oh god what happened?

Michael's imagination ran wild with worst case scenarios, but he eventually settled on the most obvious as Luke responded,

"But you want to."

So Calum had shown his hand. Whether on purpose, or more likely not by the sound of things, Luke knew now. It was all out in the open.

Michael hated that Luke knew the truth. Hated that Calum was hurting his best friend, destroying Luke's trust in the one relationship that had always been there for him to fall back on.

But it was for the best. Luke was bound to find out about Calum's feelings one way or another, and their codependency couldn't last forever. At least Michael would be there to pick up the pieces.

When Luke spoke again it was nothing more than a murmur and Michael found himself leaning in trying to hear. His ear was practically pressed against the wall when he heard Luke ask Calum to leave. He could hear the tremble in Luke's voice, an unmistakable warbling in the back of his throat that signified the beginning of the end.

His body twitched as he fought every nerve ending telling him to go to Luke. The seconds dragged into minutes, but he forced himself to stay put as he heard Luke say he "needed time" and then the door clicked shut behind Calum.

What was an appropriate amount of time to wait before bursting over there? Should he pretend like he didn't just hear their friendship fall apart?

These questions and more raced through Michael's mind, but before he could come up with an appropriate way to approach Luke in his moment of need, there was a small knock on his door.

It was pitiful, really. A single knock and sniffle from the other side. Michael ran to the door, stubbing his toe in the process and cursing as he opened the door.