Queer as Muke

1.14.7 A Change Of Heart

"You've got to be careful with those huh?"

Calum looks up where he's been working quietly, putting soft plastic folders around his oldest and most rare comics. 

"Yeah, they're pretty valuable. Got to be careful with them and protect them from the light."

Calum chews the inside of his mouth slowly during the silence between them, he's been feeling shitty all day and it's not all due to his hangover.

"You must be pretty mad at me still?" He asks quietly, not sure if he wants an answer, glancing at Stephen as he fiddles with his hands.

"No, I'm not mad at you," Stephen replies, a little slowly as he considers what to say.

"Well, I want you to know that I'm sorry I lied."

"I'm sorry too." Stephen takes a seat next to him at the dining room table. "Sometimes I get er...sometimes I get a little worked up over..."

"Michael?"

"Yeah. Over Michael."

Calum nods, he understands but he needs Stephen to understand something too. "I've known him practically my entire life, I cant just stop seeing him."

"You shouldn't have to," Stephen agrees. "You should feel free to see whoever you want to see. After all this is a relationship, it's not a maximum security prison."

Stephen knows Michael was right, if he wants to keep Calum he can't ban him from seeing his friends, no matter how much he may like to at times. Calum looks at him wonderingly, then smiles and kisses him.

"So are you and Michael getting the band back together?"

Calum laughs, "Ah! No!"

"Hey, you want to go out tonight?"

"Yeah!"

"You go."

"What about you?"

"I'm not in the mood, I'll stay here. You go, you dance and you torture all those guys with your sculpted torso and then you come home to me."

Calum grins, "I think I have a better idea..."

To Stephen's surprise Calum goes to put some music on and then proceeds to give him a lap dance, taking more and more of his clothes off with every verse and chorus, happy to give both Michael and Arq a miss for tonight.

~~~

Sam and Maddie prop the bar at Arq up together, both feeling sad. Neither of them really know why they're in there but both know that they need some company tonight.

"I know how much you're going to miss him..." Maddie tells him after Sam's finished telling her about when he and Calum had gone to see Corey earlier that evening.

"Actually you don't, but I appreciate the sentiment."

"How about a dance?"

"Nah, it would just remind me of him."

"Another drink?"

"I'd start to cry..."

Maddie understands, relationship breakdowns feel like they're tearing your heart out from inside your chest, maybe she'll just stay here quietly with Sam...well as quietly as they can be in the middle of Arq.

~~~

Over on the dance floor, Michael and Luke are dancing together.

"You're losing your shirt!" Michael says, bending down to pick it up off the floor as Luke's hips gyrate above him. He pops it around Luke's neck like a scarf, grinning at the boy. He loves how Luke always whips his shirt off when it gets too hot in here.

"You almost lost yours...relatively speaking."

"God I know. I still have no idea why he dropped the suit."

"It's a mystery!" Luke says chirpily.

"I guess I'll just have to be more careful who I fuck!" Michael says, pointedly holding Luke's cheeks to bring him close, admiring how hot he looks in the swirling blue and purple lights.

"Lucky for you I turn eighteen tomorrow!" Luke crows at him, happy he's finally at the milestone. He can buy his own drinks and not have to worry if his Dad will show up with the police at Michael's place.

"What do you want for your birthday?"

Luke shows him with a deep kiss, slipping his tongue into Michael's mouth as he rocks his hips against Michael's, letting him feel what exactly what he wants.

~~~

"What about a nice stiff dick?!" Maddie asks, making both her and Sam snort and snigger.

"Now you're talking. One of my friends in college always used to say 'it's just not sex without...'"

"Without something up your butt!" Corey supplies, finishing the well recited sentence off as he leans on the bar next to Maddie. Elisabeth arrives too, her hands on Maddie and Sam's shoulders.

"Oh no, now you've come to Arq to prophetise," Sam says, looking away from both of them quickly.

"That's not why we're here..."

"We've seen the light!" Elisabeth calls from behind them.

"We know!" Maddie and Sam chorus back, both of them resolutely keeping their backs turned and their faces to the bar.

"A different light," Corey points out.

"What about your success story?" Maddie asks, finally turning to Corey, noticing with a shock the eye make up, the sheer top that shows his nipples, the product in the hair and the fact that he's drinking Cosmo's again.

"Oh, we're a success story!" Corey assures her.

"We shared it with the group!" Elisabeth tells them, poking her head in between them again.

"Mmmhmm. I told them some of us are meant to eat pussy. And some of us are meant to suck cock!" Corey tells them, coming around to join Elisabeth, noting that Sam is still studying the bottom of his glass. "But either way, God loves us all."

Sam finally turns to look at Corey when he recognises the quote, a curious look starting to dawn on his face.

"Oh they agreed that God loves us!" Elisabeth tells them both, nodding vigorously.

"And then they told us to get the fuck out!" Corey belly laughs as Elisabeth cracks up next to him.

"Then you're really back?" Sam asks, hardly daring to believe he may have finally had his best friend returned to him.

"Honey, my flame has been rekindled and is burning brighter than ever!" Corey says as his arm waves high in the air. He kisses Maddie on the head and then turns to Sam giving him a big hug. "Oh! Sorry! Sorry!" He cries as he spills his Cosmo down Sam's back which Sam of course instantly forgives him for.

"Come on you!" Corey says, gulping the remainder of his drink down before leading Sam to the dance floor, holding his hand high in the air. "Do you hear that gay thumpa thumpa?" He asks as he starts dancing. "God I missed that!"

Corey twirls around taking everything in, the biggest smile plastered on his face that gets wider and wider the more he twirls. He sees Maddie and Elisabeth dancing together and, a little further away, Michael and Luke. He grins as he looks to Sam, knowing he's back exactly where he belongs.