Stranger » Malum

Day Ten

3:58.

Michael maneuvers through the door easier this time, banging his walker against the door frame once or twice.

He doesn't say a word until his legs are tangled up in Calum's and he has the tanned boy's limp hand gripped tightly in his own. He snuggles closer, but not even that could bring a smile to his face. His face that was even paler than usual. His eyes didn't seem to gain complete focus either, staying a neutral greyish colour rather than its ordinary icy blue touch.

"I did it." He mumbled after what felt like forever, eyes finally focusing on Calum's face.

"My mum came for a visit, and I did it." He continued while dropping his head down to rest on Calum's shoulder. "I told her I'm gay."

The whites of his eyes became a slight pink, emphasizing his uncommon eye colour. He sniffled, burying his head into the fabric of Calum's pastel blue hospital gown before continuing.

"She's so disappointed in me, Calum. She told me she doesn't respect my life choices, she acted as if being gay was something I could just choose! Like my hair colour or clothes or something, she thinks you can just be gay for a while and if you don't like it then you can just stop! Doesn't she understand? I've tried! You can't just turn it off or something. It hasn't turned off since that one day. . ." Michael ranted, ending up telling Calum about his first crush on a boy.

"Mum! I'm going over to Ashton's!" He yelled, slamming the door closed and walking into the heated Australian sun. Christmas Eve was one of Michael's favourite days of the year because everyone was always so happy.

He took the long way to Ashton's house, still having to pick up the present he was getting his best friend. Luke was off visiting relatives a few cities over so Michael didn't have to buy him anything until the day before he got back.

Despite what his parents always told him he had decided to go to the less clean side of town because it had the only pet shop that could guarantee puppies that aren't from a mill. He'd done his research because he didn't really have any political opinions on anything but he loves animals.

Its not like anyone would mess with him, he'd walked these streets for quite a while with Luke and Ashton who didn't exactly look that approachable at first glance. One glance would receive a glare from one of the three boys and the person wouldn't want to take a second glance.

He'd been in the pet shop a few times before and decided to head toward the pet supplies first because he'd witnessed a few people excitedly collecting their puppy and struggling to round up the required supplies while holding and keeping an eye on said puppy.

While looking for squeaky toys, Michael spotted a head of hair. Black in colour and the owner managed to get it into the perfect fringe. Michael had a fringe, although it would never be as beautiful as this stranger's.

He couldn't see this person's face because a large bag of dog food was in the way but they were in the cat collar section if Michael remembered correctly.

Of course the problem that arose was the store's cat wanted affection and it was meowing loudly at Michael's feet, thus he was caught staring at the boy with the incredible fringe. Not only did he have an incredible fringe, he had the most amazing eyes Michael had ever seen.

Michael ended up tripping over an inconveniently placed dog bed and the boy left before Michael could talk to him.

"Your eyes are probably prettier." Michael reassures quickly, flashing a small smile at Calum.

"The compliment might not sound manly but you can't just walk up to someone and say 'Oh, I bet your eyes can bench at least one ten' it just doesn't work."

Michael heaved a sigh, rolling closer to the edge of the bed and looked at Calum with tired eyes. "I should probably go, Ashton and Luke are going to try to smuggle beer in and I'll probably have to clean something up for them. Not to mention I'm basically coming out to the entire world today, so I can't exactly be completely sober. Am I right?" He tries to make the topic sound lighthearted but his faux smile doesn't brighten up his eyes and you can tell he's not very happy about having to be at least tipsy in order to admit to his friend's that he prefers dicks.

 

"Later Calum."

A/N: Y'all should be extremely happy because for some stupid reason Wattpad won't open on my Google Chrome and so I'm delivering this chapter from Internet Explorer. Your fucking welcome, this chapter deleted itself three times while I was writing it. See what I go through to make my people happy? No? Didn't think so. . . Until next time xx

Have a lovely day?