The Floaters [cake au] ✔

⌛ ➀➁ : pearl. ⌛

Strong exteriors didn't always mean strong interiors, after all.

By the time we got back to Selfrisingford, it was almost dusk and the glorious sunlight was spilling over the buildings, illuminating the walls with orange and pink shades. I spotted Luke in the distance standing with his back facing me and his front facing the ocean, also painted a warm colour by the sunlight, and ran over to reunite with him.

"Calum?" he said with a smile when I engulfed him with a tight hug. "Why aren't you wearing any clothes?"

I shut my eyes and enjoyed the moment – the warmth of the sky, the scratchy scent of paint and wood, the snatches of gentle sea breeze fanning over us. "I missed you," I whispered, pressing my lips against his neck.

"What happened up there?" he asked, once I'd pulled away from him. We sat down on the soft shards of grass, interlocking our fingers as an eternal bond.

"We confirmed Jenna's death and Jack got himself sucked away by the black monster thingy," I informed. He gave an empathetic smile, rubbing my arm. "Also... I realised what the meaning of that lock of hair and bracelet on your bookshelf means."

He froze ever so slightly, avoiding my eyes. "Y-yeah?"

"Yeah. It must've been so painful for you, Luke – just as it was for Ashton and Michael today up on the mountain. They were broken, so broken – the only people who cared about them had just vanished into thin air. It was all they could do to make it down and not join them."

Luke pressed his lips into a brief smile. "It's hard and it's happened to me so many times, but it doesn't get any easier. It was hardest with Jack though, because I was still young and he was my brother after all. I just wanted to hang out with him all day long but he resented my every fibre and in the end, I never got to make amends with him before he left."

The sun was beginning to say its final farewells, the tip of the semi-circle only just visible. The colours were deepening, darkening into purples and violets before fading completely to black. The stars came out after that, brightening up the sky once more alongside the moon.

We sat there for a long time, just wrapped in each other's presence, and there was nothing more I would've asked for. The peaceful quiet of being a floater – no one disturbed us, no one even came close to disturbing us. Even if they did, we wouldn't have been able to hear them. That's how in love we were.

~

The next morning, Michael and Ashton were at our doorstep with two bags, waiting expectantly like dogs for their dinner.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked, yawning when I opened the door. Michael let himself in, giving me a brief hug whilst Ashton simply waved.

"With Jenna and Jack gone, we didn't want to live in that huge place alone so... can we move in with you?"

Luke came bounding down with his annoying morning energy and pursed his lips when he saw the two people at the door. "What..."

"They wanna move in with us," I relayed, placing my hand on Luke's shoulder. The hallway was very cramped with three abnormally tall people and Luke who was only a few centimetres shorter. "What do you say?"

Ashton dropped his bag and got on his knees. "Luke, I'm really sorry for being such an asshole to you these past few years. I followed the crowd when I should've reached out and talked to you, but you know how it is when your friends are toxic. As for Michael..."

"I'm sorry too. Even though I came at the same time as Luke I should've stuck with him when he defended you."

Luke shrugged. "Well I guess you're forgiven. But you have to stay downstairs, okay? There's only one bedroom upstairs."

They started settling in whilst I found some random food to eat. It didn't fill me up but it was the action of eating in the morning that drove me towards the kitchen each morning.

We decided that a trip to the market would be good, since we were running out of clean clothes and none of us liked washing very much. Though the market brought back memories of mother Jenna, we had to press on and deal with it, however much we hated that death was a thing.

It was busy when we arrived, but there was one stall where no one was going near. We went over to take a look and it turned out there was a guy selling (or trying to sell) his tent.

"You young boys want to buy this tent?" he said in an American accent. He looked very malnourished, but the tent looked almost new. "I made it myself."

I glanced at Luke. "We could totally go camping, right?" I whispered into his hear. He nodded enthusiastically, and I called Michael and Ashton over. They all agreed that it would be awesome to go camping so we bought it off him for a sufficiently hefty price, getting Ashton to lug it around since he was the most muscular. It was actually pretty hilarious, his body shifting from side to side as he struggled in the heat.

***

I actually love this 💖

Kimmy xx