room // malum au [in progress]

april 9th, 2021

"daddy?" calum cracked his left eye open just a little to see tucker straddling his torso looking down at him.

the twenty five year old let out a yawn before fully opening both of his eyes and looking at his five year old son.

"what's up little man?"

"just making sure you aren't having a bad day today." tucker explained running his hand through calum's hair.

"oh tuck." calum sighed pulling the little boy down to lay on his chest. "i love you bud. more than anything."

"i love you too daddy."

"so what do you want to do today?" calum asked sitting up with tucker in his arms. "play on the trampoline?"

"it's raining out." tucker stated.

"oh." calum huffed. "well there goes that idea."

"can we watch finding nemo? or the lion king?" tucker chirped.

"how bout we watch both?"

tucker nodded enthusiastically. "yes please!"

"let's go make some pancakes first." calum said standing up with tucker clinging to him like a little koala.

"yay!" tucker squealed. "i like pancakes! they're my favorite."

calum chucked, "i know bud."

"can we put chocolate chips in them?" he asked as they made their way down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"chocolate chips?" calum retorted. "since when do you like chocolate chips in your pancakes? have you even had chocolate chips in your pancakes before?"

"since three days ago when michael made them for me." tucker stated.

"oh did he now? well i think i need to have a talk with him about this."

"so can we?" tucker questioned making himself comfortable on the chair calum put him down on.

"i guess so but i'm only putting them in one." he answered. "you don't need all that sugar."

"deal." tucker said grinning at his father.

calum shook his head playfully and began to make the batter from scratch. he hated boxed pancake mix and swore to himself back when he was twelve and learning to cook to never use it.

tucker sat on his chair silently observing calum's every move, never once taking his eyes off his father. partly because calum was making his favorite food but mostly because tucker was completely, utterly, infatuated with him. calum was tucker's best friend. calum was tucker's savoir. calum was tucker's hero.

"daddy don't burn that one!" tucker nearly shouted as the single chocolate chip pancake sizzled too loud for his liking.

"it's fine tucker." calum sighed flipping the pancake. "see, it's not burnt."

tucker stood up on the chair and strained his neck to see that calum was in fact right. the pancake was simply a beautiful golden brown color, not blackened and burnt. he let out a small huff before sitting back down and resting his head in his hands waiting for calum to give him a plate full of pancakes and syrup.

"well you're very impatient today." calum chuckled as he watched tucker pout over the fact that he didn't have pancakes yet.

"i want the pancakes!" he whined back in response to his father's teasing.

"they're cooking bud chill your butt." tucker once again let out a loud huff before going back to silently staring down calum, watching his every move as he finished making the pancakes.

the five year old not so quietly cheered as calum placed a plate with three smallish sized pancakes in front of him, one of course containing the precious chocolate chips. he immediately dug into the food covering himself in the sticky syrup and melted chocolate.

"you need a bath." calum sighed once tucker declared he was finished with a giant smile.

"i don't want a bath." tucker argued. "bath time is at night."

"well then you need to thoroughly wash your face and hands because i am not letting you back into my bed that dirty." calum retorted playfully. "or i'm watching both movies without you."

"no!" tucker shouted in protest.

"then go clean yourself off and brush your teeth." calum replied. "i'll clean up in here."

"okay!" tucker yelled climbing down off his chair and running towards the bathroom leaving calum to clean up by himself.

the two completed their individual tasks and met each other at the bottom of the stairs tucker rolling on the balls of his feet excitingly.

"ready to be lazy bums and watch movies in bed all day?" calum asked picking the five year old up and carrying him up the stairs.

"movies!" tucker cheered.

calum playfully tossed him down on the bed before going over to the tv and putting finding nemo into the dvd player. he grabbed the remote before plopping down on the bed next to tucker and pulling him close.

"daddy your phone is buzzing." tucker pointed out as calum started to get comfortable on the bed.

calum sighed before reaching over tucker's small body and grabbing his phone off the bedside table. it was michael calling. he pressed ignore and placed the cellphone backdown.

"why didn't you answer?" tucker asked resting his head on calum's chest.

"cause it's a you and me day." calum explained. "no one else is allowed."

"oh okay." tucker replied. "i like it when it's just me and you."

"i like it too." calum agreed. "now shush the movie's starting."

tucker rolled his eyes at his father but complied and stopped talking, focusing on the animated fish on the television. the five year old managed to stay relatively quiet throughout the movie entranced by the animations unlike calum who recited the script word for word.

"you know you're not very good at following your own directions." tucker sassed as calum switched the dvds, now putting in the lion king.

"i'm not?" calum joked.

"no!" tucker whined. "you tell me to be quiet but you talked during the whole movie."

"i'm sorry bud." calum said laying back down and pulling tucker close. "it's become an instinct with that movie. i just can't help but recite every word."

"you're weird." tucker stated. "do i have to stay quiet during this movie or am i allowed to sing along."

"you best be singing every single word on the top of your lungs." calum replied.

and if joy secretly recorded the two loudly singing 'i just can't wait to be king' and dancing around the room they didn't need to know. all that mattered was that in that moment calum and tucker were unbelievably happy.