control. ( ot4 . )

21.05.2023.

Calum's head pops in around the side of the door, and he smiles as he watches his Submissive drink his Starbucks and scroll through his phone, "Michael, I know it's your break, but could you please run through these files with me and sort them into alphabetical order? It needs to be done before two and if it isn't done and all sent through my boss will probably murder me."

Michael looks up from his phone, throwing his coffee cup in the bin and nodding, "Of course I can, Sir." He says, standing up and straightening out his black pencil skirt, following Calum back to his office.

Michael takes a seat next to Calum at his desk, and Calum keeps a firm hand on the inside of the Sub's leg, gently stroking up and down as they begin to file the paperwork, Michael's face slowly heating up.

Michael doesn't really like working for the firm Calum works for, he's decided. Calum is high up in the business, but even he still has a boss who's further up than him, and Michael feels like he's walking on eggshells, always trying to remember to not step foot out of line.

He wonders if things are different at Ashton's company, he wonders if maybe he would've enjoyed it there more, if Ashton was giving him attention and wasn't completely ignoring him like he had been the past few weeks.

Michael had thought he and Ashton were getting somewhere, but after Luke made his revelations, Ashton had been sour and had been ignoring Michael as best as he could. To start off with, Michael had thought he'd done something wrong and this was his punishment - Michael hated being ignored, it made him feel unwanted and insecure, so it would've been an understandably good punishment - but no, he hadn't been bad, Ashton just couldn't be bothered with him.

One of his Dominants ignoring him is something Michael could've dealt with, but not only was Ashton ignoring him, so was Luke. Which, Michael really couldn't put up with and it hurt him, because he was definitely being blanked and ignored through no faults of his own. Yet, he never asked, in fear of being punished.

Calum made up for the amount of time the other men had spent ignoring him, Calum let Michael sleep with him, Calum gave him a job, watched television with him, spent as much time as possible with him just to make sure he was okay and didn't feel unwanted. 

Nothing was sexual any longer, either. Though Calum touched Michael, he never touched him in that way. Michael could put up with that, he could deal with not being used as a sexual object and being treated as a human being, but this just made everything feel even more off. That none of the men were even asking for him to please them.

Ashton came home late at night a lot, and when he did he was tired and half drunk, and it made Michael wonder if Ashton was out getting his kicks elsewhere, which was a violation of any contract the men had made Michael sign.

Luke worked so late at the office that sometimes he would end up just staying at a hotel down the street instead of coming home for the night, just because being close to work for the next morning was more convenient. But even when he did come home, Michael was already in bed and sleeping or watching television.

He heard Luke and Ashton talk about him a lot, about how both of them couldn't be ignoring him at the same time because it wasn't fair, but also how neither of them wanted to see or talk to him for whichever reason. On the nights that Michael was on his own and he heard these conversations, he would cry himself to sleep silently. He'd never felt so lonely and out of place.

Michael's heart clenched, he wasn't happy any longer, and he wanted to leave.

Calum brings Michael out of his thoughts, "Princess, are you okay?" He asks, looking at the boy with furrowed eyebrows and a pulled down frown.

"I -" Michael swallows, mouth dry, "I don't feel very well at all."

The room feels like it's spinning and his brain feels like it's going to explode from all of his thoughts, and before he knows it his vision blacks out and he falls from the chair with a dull thud.

-----

Michael's head is sore and he just wants to sleep, but this pesky doctor keeps checking his eyes with a bright light to check for concussion, and she's asking him annoying questions.

"Can you please be quiet for a second?" Calum asks her from where he's still leaning on his desk, "He's just fainted, he's not feeling very well and he needs to rest, he doesn't need you reeling off all this information to him right now."

"I'm sorry, Mr.Hood but this is for his record, we need to make sure he has no history of this." The doctor says, finally taking the light away from Michael's eyes and he blinks furiously to get rid of the harsh glare behind his eyelids.

"I haven't fainted since I was fourteen and had to watch my Bio teacher cut up sheep lungs," Michael grimaces, shuddering for effect, "other than that, no I haven't fainted or passed out at random. Please, can I just go home now?"

Michael's voice isn't snappy, but he's impatient and doesn't feel well, so his temper is getting short, and he's having a hard time calming down.

The doctor and Calum look at each other for a long second before he's sending her away and taking a copy of Michael's records from her hands.

"Lets get you home, you need to rest up and get some decent sleep for a change." Calum says smoothly, wrapping an arm around Michael's shoulders.

"But what about all the paperwork?" Michael asks, looking at the unfinished stacks of files on Calum's desk. The man shrugs, waving it off and Michael gets it, that he's probably found someone last minute to do it for him.

"Doesn't matter, what matters is that you feel better, so c'mon, we can nap in my bed."

+++++

bet u didnt expect to see me before the new year lol! this is a total filler chapter to tide you all over for a couple of weeks but some big crazy shit is going to go down and you'll all probably hate me.

anyway thank you all so much for almost 3k reads this is just absolutely crazy!!

let me know what you think!xo