"Fucking hell why won't you come out?!"
Michael turns away from the window he's cleaning to be faced with a rather unusual sight. Calum is sitting flat on the sidewalk, glaring at a small green weed that has sprouted from a crack. The dark haired boy squints his eyes at it, as if preparing for battle.
"Cal.." Michael warns.
Too late. Calum dives at the weed, grabbing it and yanking with all his might. By the end of the struggle, he is panting with bits of shredded leaves in his hand and Michael is clutching his stomach in hysterics. Calum turns his glare towards the laughter, and then waves the plant victoriously at him. "I got it!" He calls with a proud grin.
"Great job. You only got about a hundred more to go," Michael replies, turning back to his previous chore.
Calum's responding groan echoes through the whole neighborhood. "This is bullshit!"
"Tell me about it."
The boys roam from task to task, complaining all the while. It's a hot day and before they know it they're dripping with sweat. Their hands and backs ache furiously.
"Are we almost done with the outdoor chores?" Calum yells from the bushes across the lawn.
Michael glances down at the paper, now marked with scribbles and lines. "Kinda."
"What do you mean kinda?"
"I dunno; I just mean kinda." Michael shrugs without looking up again.
Calum huffs, dropping the clippers and coming to check out the list. He counts the remaining jobs on his hands, growing more weary with every finger that goes up.
"This is impossible," he mumbles when he's left with eight fingers up.
"What happened to staying positive?" Michael questions teasingly.
Before he can protest or complain further, a beaming Ashton strolls out of the house. Ashton looks the two up and down then turns his attention to the lawn. Michael and Calum share an annoyed look.
"Looks like your doing a decent job," Ashton compliments, surprising them both. "Keep it up."
"Um thanks..?" Michael replies.
Ashton regards Calum with questioning eyes. "You don't have to be doing all this, you know. It's my stepbrothers job, after all."
"Yeah but it's not exactly fair what you guys are doing to him, is it? I'm just trying to make his life a little less miserable," he shoots back.
The two have what can only be described as a stare down before Ashton shakes his head. "Suit yourself," he says, returning back through the door in which he came.
"Thanks," Michael whispers after a long moment.
Calum looks at his friend with sympathy. "Of course," he mumbles softy. He slowly makes his way back to the bush he was trimming without another word.
The mood between them has made an obvious shift and they both work in silence.
The chores take time, but they begin to dwindle. When they can be counted on only one of Calum's hands, the two share a small high five and continue on. As the sun goes down, so does the number of jobs outside still remaining. Before they know it, Michael has his paintbrush hovering over the last unpainted spot on the shed. The two hold their breathe and watch as he, almost ceremoniously, finishes.
It's like a weight has been lifted off each of their chests. A sigh of relief slips from their lips.
"I think we can call this a day," Calum says, clapping Michael on the back.
They gather and put away their supplies, all the while faint smiles are visible on their faces.
A few minutes later, they find themselves splayed out across the upstairs room of the house. Michael lays on his bed, too exhausted to even find a pillow to place beneath his head. Calum is on the floor with his back to a wall and his head tilted towards the ceiling.
"Well today sucked," Michael finally says.
Calum can't seem to find it in himself to nod so he breathes a quiet "yeah" in response.
"At least the rest of the chores aren't outside in that heat," Michael says with uncharacteristic optimism.
Calum doesn't reply for awhile. "Why do you put up with this shit?" Is what he eventually asks.
"Because I have to.. But you don't have to, you can always leave. There's nothing holding you here, so why do you put up with this?" Michael rambles without looking at him.
"What do you mean there's nothing holding me here? You're here aren't you?" Calum replies exasperatedly.
"Yeah but.."
Calum sits up abruptly. "Hey. Don't talk like that. We've been best friends for as long as I can remember and nothing's going to change that. I'm not leaving you just because of your bitch of a guardian."
Gratitude washes over Michael, strengthening him slightly. He smiles genuinely at him and thanks him for the second time that day.
"Anytime. And to answer your question, I put up with it because we're in this together. We're all each other has and holy fuck that was mushy. I apologize wow." Calum widens his eyes at how cliché and sappy he was being.
"You should probably make sure you don't have a vagina after that one, mate."
The two burst into laughter, letting all of the stress from their situation spill out.
Conversation floats around a bit after that, remaining light and cheery. Michael smiles inwardly to himself and wonders how he became so lucky as to have a friend like Calum. Without Calum, he's not sure he would have made it. Things had gotten pretty bad after his dad passed, but Calum was always right there with hugs and the newest video game. Whenever his stepmom or Ashton pushed him too far, Calum had been the one to keep him together and ward off the darkness. When Michael decided to come out, he had been the first to accept him. He's not sure how it happened, but he's come to depend on his best friend. And now as his laughter fills the room, he doesn't think he's ever been more grateful.
Calum grins groggily at him from his spot on the floor. "Get up here," Michael demand , scooting over to make room in the bed. Calum happily obliges.
The last thing he says before sleep overcomes them is, "Hey Mikey, you need an outfit for that party.."
And so Michael drifts off into unconsciousness with hopes for Luke's party and his friend's warmth surrounding him.
THERE I HOPE THAT MAKES UP FOR HOW TERRIBLY SHORT AND SHITTY THE LAST CHAPTER WAS AND YEAH ID LIKE TO APOLOGIZE FOR IT SO SORRY
