All the Beautiful Things

VII

Ever since they had begun working on his emotions, the blonde's thoughts were constantly consumed with Calum and Casper. He thought about how much of a burden he was on them, how much his place in Calum's life made Casper uneasy, and everything in between. He was constantly questioning Calum's intentions, constantly making sure to involve Casper in everything he possibly could, and second-guessing his every word, not wanting to say something that pushed his new friends away.

The boy's brain was fried from all of these thoughts. He couldn't concentrate on anything else and he tried to hard to feel something when he was with Calum, knowing how much this project mattered to his brown haired companion. For the first time, Everest didn't want someone to leave his life. Calum actually continued to come back, never giving up on him like everyone before him. He was excited to work with the taller boy's emotions and unlock everything he'd never known.

But what would happen when the project was complete? What if Calum felt no reason to remain friends with Everest once they had finally coaxed emotions out of him. There would be no reason for him to linger, as his job was complete. The only thing that could keep him around after that would be his desire to talk to him. He could easily walk away and never speak to him again.

The thoughts that burned inside of Everest constantly took their toll on him, nagging at him every single night and all throughout the day. He wasn't sure why, but he was clinging to Calum desperately, as if he subconsciously didn't want to let go of the energy and happiness he so badly wanted to experience.

It was for this reason that Everest's laughter was completely and utterly fake. He had noticed the way Calum's face would light up whenever he laughed, the way he would pause what he was doing just to listen to the sound that was still quite unfamiliar in Everest's own ears. When the blonde found something to be funny, Cal would even go as far as to take out his camera and capture a photo of him laughing, just because the look on his face when he did so made the brunette happy on the inside, knowing Everest was letting go of his built up walls for just a moment to laugh.

But it wasn't real and that was the problem. The laughter was forced and when he did it, he felt nothing at all most times. It had reached the point where laughing was similar to the fake pleasant looks he would create whenever he was meeting a colleague of his parents'. He didn't want it this way. He wanted to laugh because he found something funny, not because he wanted Calum to be happy. The laughter was supposed to be for Everest's benefit, but it was quickly turning into Calum's, and at no fault of the smaller boy's.

This was what was on Everest's mind when the brunette texted him, asking him if he could meet him at the hospital. He should not have agreed to this, wanting to spend a little time away from Calum in attempt to regain control of his mindset a little, but when the his smaller friend added a ":-)" to the message, he knew he had to go.

Twenty minutes after two, Calum parked his car and ran at full-Cal-speed to meet his friend at the front. When he saw the blonde facing away from him, he smirked devilishly and launched himself at him, jumping onto Everest's back and quickly wrapping his legs around his friend's middle so he didn't fall off.

Everest released an involuntary gasp at the sudden weight and put his hands out in front of him to lean against the wall so he could regain his balance. His heart raced, something that rarely happened to him, and he turned his head to see Calum smiling widely at him. "Hey Everest!" He exclaimed happily, ignoring the judgmental looks from people passing by.

"Calum, you cannot just do that. I could drop you and you could get hurt. That or I could fall and then both of us would be injured." Everest told him, but amusement, real amusement, twinkled in his eyes.