Master

Chapter 19

Picture of Malcolm

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Lincoln's P.O.V

"I just have one question," Malcolm says the moment Aias and Kalem were out of earshot. "How do you manage to mess up so frequently?"

I don't reward his question with a response as I sink down into one of the large armchairs near the entrance of his ancient abode. The heavy sigh I'd kept in for the past two days came out now, loud and unchecked now that Kalem wasn't close enough to hear it.

"It's a serious query," Malcolm continues as he takes a seat in the opposite chair, leaning forward with clear interest behind his amusement as he stared at my slouched figure. "It's almost guaranteed that once every other week you come here for advice concerning some manner with literally the most obedient, pleasant being throughout all the realms. I want to know how you do it."

"If I knew how to keep him happy all the time, I wouldn't have to answer that question," I reply through a groan, the statement only triggering a sharp sting to spread through my heart, the words I'd spoken to close to another I'd congregated in the past.

Rule No.12 of Master's Rule: Master must keep his Kalem happy as much as he can.

A sick chuckle escapes me as the rule passes through my mind, I'd added that one in there thinking it'd be nothing more than a charming reminder that Kalem came first and that he deserved to be made happy at all times.

I didn't actually entertain the possibility that it'd be my own actions that'd disrupt that goal.

"Okay, no more jabbing on my end," Malcolm promises, offering me a symbolic white flag of settling back into his own chair with an open smile. "Come on, tell Uncle Malcolm what's wrong so he can make it better."

"You're an imbecile," I tell him and he laughs.

"An imbecile you need to fix your mistakes," He replies, smugness covering his face in that way that always pissed me off more than it should. But I could see the underlying worry and patience behind that look at that, like always, stopped me from planting a punch that'd knock those stupid smirks from his lips.

I begin begrudgingly, sharing the events that'd passed between Kalem and me just two days ago when I tried to be romantic and take him on a date. I tell him about how great things were going despite the fact that I'd only been on a handful of dates in my lifetime, how Kalem liked the places I took him and was full of confidence from the moment we woke up.

My thoughts trail as I continue to speak and I tell him about how all my previous fears leading up to the date were useless and foolish. I tell him about the way I felt when I was out there with Kalem, how my heart felt full and like it could beat with just my joy alone. I tell him about how I arranged for the sunflowers to be planted weeks prior, having an incline that Kalem would love them over any others. 

I tell him about everything.

Including how my entire world stopped when Kalem told me he loved me, that I'd never felt so fucking scared or happy to hear those words and that they'd triggered something so foreign and intimate in me, that my entire world fractured apart and left me exposed to this new unknown.

"It scared you," Malcolm fills in when I find myself going silent with the sudden awareness that I'd shared too much. "Hearing those words from him, it scared you."

I nod.

"I don't understand why," Malcolm says subsequently, a deep frown contorting his features. "You've known that you've loved each other for quite some time now. Yes, you haven't actually vocalized the feeling but you must've both been aware of it for long enough. God knows everyone else does."