room // malum au [in progress]

february 19th, 2021

"hey daddy what's that?" tucker asked pointing to something outside.

"what's what?" calum replied climbing off his bed and walking over to the window where tucker was standing.

"that thing."

calum's gaze fell upon his old trampoline in the back corner of the backyard.

"that's a trampoline. do you wanna go see it?"

"yeah!" tucker squealed. "let's go!"

"okay." calum chuckled. "we gotta bundle you up first. it's cold outside."

"kay let's go then." tucker shouted pulling calum out of the bedroom and towards the stairs.

"you still scared?" calum asked as the five year old halted at the staircase. he nodded.

tucker had mastered going up the stairs fine. it was going down that terrified him.

"can you pick me up please?"

"i guess so but you have to start doing it by yourself soon okay?" calum said softly picking the five year old up and adjusted him to comfortably rest on his hip.

tucker nuzzed his head into the crook of calum's neck like always and squeezed his eyes shut as calum made the short trip down the stairs. when they were safely back on the ground calum tapped tucker's back and placed him back down.

"thank you." he whispered.

"let's get you all bundled up."

the two didn't take long to pile on the winter clothing and were racing to the backdoor when they got intercepted.

"whoa where do you two think you're going?" joy asked stepping in their path.

"to the trampoline." calum said rolling on the balls of his feet trying to act as innocent as possible.

"and do you really think that's a good idea? the thing could break at any second. it's so old."

"eh worth the risk." calum replied shrugging.

"i don't think you should risk it."

"moooom." Calum whined. "i'll test it out before he goes on. i promise."

"fine. go." she huffed. "just give me a heads up when you're coming in and i'll have hot chocolate ready."

"yes!" calum cheered. "let's go tuck."

he laced his gloved hand with tucker's and pulled him outside towards the trampoline.

"wow." tucker breathed. "it's a lot bigger then i thought."

"yeah it's pretty big." calum laughed. "let me go test it out."

the twenty five year old climbed on top of the trampoline and stopped in his tracks when he heard it squeak.

"don't hurt yourself." tucker called.

"i'll try not to." calum replied. he took another step towards the middle. he turned to face tucker before taking a small test jump.

thankfully the trampoline didn't break. just whined and creaked from old age.

"okay let's get you up here." calum said clambering off and grabbing tucker. he playfully tossed the five year old onto the trampoline before climbing back on himself.

"now what?" tucker asked linking his hand with calum's.

"you jump." calum stated jumping up and down. tucker gave calum a confused look before caustiously following his actions.