PCD || Muke ✓

seven

"Michael! Wait!"

Michael heard a voice yell from behind him. The boy turned around and saw Ashton running towards him. He really did not need to be confronted about snapping at Luke again, especially when it was two days in a row. It made Michael feel like a child when he was being yelled at. Being yelled at was one of his biggest triggers and one of the biggest causes of his anxiety attacks.

Michael turned back around and continued walking.

"Don't you dare do this to me, Mike," Ashton said loudly but Michael could tell he was closer now. Michael cursed for not having longer legs.

He kept trying to walk faster when he felt a hand wrap around his wrist and he hissed in pain. Michael ripped his arm out of the stranger's grip and wrapped his other hand around his wrist softly. He turned around swiftly to see that it was Ashton and Michael turned his body so that he was facing the brunette. Michael took in his features and he looked a bit taken back by his reaction and very scared. The smaller boy felt better that it wasn't a stranger that had come up to him but he still felt very uncomfortable about the fact that someone he had known for only two days had found out one of his biggest secrets.

"Michael..." Ashton said with his voice trailing off and he looked down at his arm with a knowing look.

"No. No. No! It's not what you think! You just have a tight grip on me!" Michael defended and he felt his eyes go wide.

"Mike, I'm not even holding onto you anymore," Ashton said and Michael sighed.

"Can we not talk about this?" Michael pleaded.

"No, we're definitely talking about it," Ashton said.

"I'm not going to talk," Michael said stubbornly and crossed his arms across his chest.

"Please Michael, I want to help," Ashton said.

"I can't. Ashton, I don't want to talk about it. Please, just don't tell anyone," Michael said looking down at the ground.

"Just remember your fans. They wouldn't want their biggest inspiration to leave them so suddenly," he whispered.

Michael couldn't take it anymore. He pushed past Ashton and went running towards the elevator. It wasn't until the elevator doors closed that Michael allowed himself to break down. He could've screamed. He could've punched a wall. He could've cried. He could've done anything but he remained silent. He was guessing Ashton had gone back to the dinner table but he wasn't about to go back and check. Michael didn't even care anymore. They were going to hate him no matter what he did so why bother.

Michael didn't understand why they expected him to trust them so quickly when I had met them the day before. The only person he had trusted so quickly was Lacey but that was because she was there for him in the darkest time of his life.

The elevator door opened and Michael quickly got out and ran to my room. He was ready to be alone. He hadn't had one free moment that day and he was ready to finally breathe. He slammed the door behind him and his back slid against the wall. Michael wrapped his arms around his knees and buried his face into the soft fabric of his sweater sleeves. And for the first time in a long time, Michael let himself cry.

*****

Michael was startled by a loud pounding coming from the door he was still leaning against. He quickly got up off the floor and ran to look at the time. He had been crying for about two hours and honestly it didn't surprise him. He rarely cried but when he did it was awful. Michael ran to the bathroom and removed any and all the mascara he had on his face so that he didn't look like a raccoon when he answered the door.