simply tired

chapter twenty seven

that night, the two boys had laid together, Michael curled up into Luke's arms.

Luke was thinking about how lucky he is to be with Michael.

he knows that Michael hates himself, and he searches his brain to understand why, but every time he tries to think of the bad things in Michael, his mind always drifts off to the beautiful look in Michael's eyes when he kisses Luke, or the sounds that had escaped Michael's soft lips on that beautiful night in the park.

Luke couldn't help but find the beauty in Michael's sadness.

Luke was able to see the pure guilt that Michael laid on himself for no reason, and it just explained to Luke that Michael's scars weren't a sign that Michael was crazy or a bad person, they explained just how great Michael was.

he never blamed anything on anyone, he always took it out on himself.

that hurt Luke, because he knew that Michael doesn't deserve that, but it just warmed Luke's heart that Michael let him take care of him.

Luke always thought back to that night when he went to Michael's house and he was passed out on the floor.

he remembers the whole world falling into this horrifying silence, not able to hear his screams but knowing that they were heard. he knew that Michael wasn't okay, that he needed help, and that night made Luke determined that he would help him.

Luke knew that Michael wasn't a broken toy to be fixed.

he thought of him as a beautiful masterpiece painted for the heavens that had some blank spots.

he knew that he just had to give Michael more love and reassurance for himself, and then he could slowly fill in the blanks and made the painting whole again.

that's all that Michael really needed;

love and reassurance.

•••

he heard muffled screams and the boy shook in his arms, screaming,
"STOP! PLEASE STOP!"

Luke's heart raced and he immediately jumped up, walking around to the other side of the bed.

Michael was sweating in his sleep, tears actually falling as he screamed protests.

Luke brought his hand up to Michael's hair, stroking it.
"Michael, baby- what's wrong?"

Michael's screams stopped but he tossed and turned, still muttering words, horrified.

moments later, Luke's door swung open, Liz standing there, terrified.

Luke was scared watching his boyfriend go through this.

she turned on the light, walking over, whispering to Luke,
"what's wrong?"
she watched Michael stirring as Luke tried to comfort him.

"I don't know he just starting screaming and I- I guess it's a nightmare I don't know why- I just-"

"okay, Luke go get a washcloth and put cold water on it and I'll try to wake him up."

Luke nodded and he ran out of his room, his mind racing.

why was Michael so terrified in his dream?

he grabbed a wash cloth out of the cabinet that stores towels in his hallway, before running into the bathroom and getting it wet with cold water, wringing it out and going back into his room, where his mom was tapping Michael's shoulder, who said "STOP!" and her heart hurt, because she had grown to love Michael like her own son and she could tell that he was in pain.

Liz took the washcloth from Luke's hands, draping it across Michael's warm forehead for several moments.

Luke walked forward and kissed Michael on the cheek, whispering,
"I love you Michael, are you okay? you're really scaring me. what's wrong?"

Michael's eyebrows furrowed and his eyes fluttered open slowly, blinded by the light around him and he gasped and sat up, before looking around, feeling embarrassed.

Liz patted Michael's knee,
"are you alright?"

Michael nodded, confused.

Luke was beyond confused, and just got on his side of the bed, sitting down and running his hands through the boys' hair.

Liz admired the two, knowing that she must have raised Luke well.

"what happened, Michael." Liz's voice was soft and concerned.

"well I uh- I guess I just had a bad dream. I'm tired I should just um- go back to sleep or something."

Liz nodded, tapping his knee,
"alright, I'll leave you guys. I hope that you're okay and Michael, you can talk to me anytime. I know that might sound uncomfortable but I'm genuinely here for you."

Michael nodded, still shaken up,
"thank you, Liz."

she smiled comfortingly and left the room, closing the door behind her.

Luke grabbed the washcloth that had fallen on Luke's bed and threw it in the direction of his dirty clothes, not caring at that moment where it landed.

Luke curled around the red haired boy, spooning him, his arm draped across Michael's torso.
"I love you so much, Michael."

Michael felt emotionally drained for some reason, but he found the strength to say,
"I love you more."

Luke chuckled lowly against his ear, kissing his head,
"impossible."

Luke desperately wanted to know what was wrong, but he settled for this.

he was perfectly fine with providing warmth for his boyfriend, hoping to slowly begin making him less sad, because he knew that his angel didn't deserve this constant pain.

author's note:

AM I RUINING THIS STORY IDK WHAT IM DOING HELP PLS COMMENT WHAT YOU THINK.

-jasmine :)