Chapter Thirteen
~Liam's POV~
I nodded at Zack as he drove off. I was carrying Michael and thankfully, Andi had noticed Zack's car pulling up and held the door open for me. I walked up stairs and into Michael's room. I quickly undressed him and put him in the bed. After giving Carmen and Andi a brief over view of what happened and letting them know that everything was okay, I headed back up stairs and got into bed with Michael.
However, I couldn't sleep. Not after hearing that story. I didn't really know what to think. I just rolled over in the bed and looked at Michael sleeping. His face was relaxed and his hair was getting kind of long so it spilled out over his head and on the pillow in a mess. I lightly ran a hand through the soft light brown strands of hair and my hand trailed down his face. They brushed slightly over his lips and he twitched a little before settling again.
Looking at Michael, I couldn't even begin to think about how much pain he went through. All the suffering. Even when he was just talking about it, I could feel it like it was happening to me. Michael losing Aden and not knowing anything about the actual death must drive him crazy. But maybe it was best he didn't know. If he completely shut down just from knowing that Aden died, I could only imagine what he would have been like if he knew how Aden died. That maybe if he knew, Zack wouldn't have been able to draw a response out of him. That maybe Michael wouldn't even be here.
That was the worse thought.
That my beautiful, funny, sarcastic, intelligent Michael wouldn't be around. That he could have killed himself. And just the thought made my heart break. I wrapped my arms around Michael and held him tightly to my chest. He cuddled into me and I let out a shaky breath. I didn't want him to leave. I would probably cry until I died.
And now that I think about it, that's probably what Michael felt like. He said he talked himself into believing that Aden's death was his fault. That explains why he felt unworthy of love. But in my eyes it the exact opposite. Because he lost someone that he loved – someone as special as Aden – he deserved love that much more. He deserved to know and be reminded that it was not his fault. That he wasn't in the wrong. And that even with everything that happened with Aden, he could still find love again.
I couldn't replace Aden. I know that. I'll never be able to replace Aden. That was Michael's first love. His world and life. His everything at the time. Probably still is. I didn't want to replace Aden. I could never do that. But I did want to love Michael. I wanted to stand by his side and be with him. I wanted Michael to look at me and know that I love him and accept that. And hopefully, he'll love me back.
Eventually, I fell asleep. My brain filled with heavy and depressing thoughts. When I woke up it was too bright and I felt very warm. And then I realized that it was just Michael clinging to me. I smiled to myself as I looked down at him. I kissed the top of his head and watched as his eyes slowly opened. Bright green meeting dark brown.
"Good morning." I said quietly.
Michael gave me a small smile, "Morning."
"What do you want to do today? It's Sunday so we still have school tomorrow but if you're not feeling up to it I can have my mom call up to school and excuse us." I suggested. I didn't want him to exert himself. After such an eventful weekend I don't want to pile school stress on top of that.
But Michael just shook his head. "It's fine. I can still go to school tomorrow. I just wanna cuddle. And eat something, I'm starving." He mumbled into my chest, already closing his eyes again.
I frowned a little thinking about how I didn't eat much yesterday either. Although, it seems that Michael was going to need some babying right now, which I don't mind. I kind of made me smile a little at how cute he was. I got out of bed and he groaned in frustration. This time I laughed out loud as I went into the bathroom. I saw Michael's body slowly rise up from the bed as I brushed my teeth.
His hair was all disheveled. He scratched his hair as he yawned, the covers falling down revealing his perfect body. I looked away before he noticed. He walked up behind me and practically purred as he wrapped his arms around my waist and pressed his face to my back. Cuddly Michael was going to kill me. He eventually pulled away when I started moving again. He brushed his teeth and did his daily morning things as I pulled one of my shirts out of his drawers.
I threw the shirt at him and he looked at it before turning to me. He raised an eyebrow as I felt a slight blush on my face.
"This is your shirt." He said.
I rolled my eyes at him. "Just put it on." I said. He laughed at me before putting the shirt on him. It was a little big on him and just barely went past his bottom. But at least his distracting half nakedness was covered. Crying and cuddling and closeness I could handle. Half nakedness – I'm too invested in Michael to just not want to run my hands all over him and touch him. And that's not exactly the type of touches he needs right now.
Once he was done in the bathroom, I picked him up and carried him downstairs for breakfast. We ate quietly and I fed him some food off of my plate. He would kiss me every now and then, and then we cleaned up. Regardless of what his actual chef said.
We went back up to Michael's room and watched movies and cuddled. It was a very relaxing day. I was thankful for that as I don't think either of us were up for any more drama or curve balls. Everything was slow and wonderful. And light touches and long kisses. And I got to just look at Michael watching old kid movies in my shirt. I felt like I could just look at him forever. Watching him do anything really. Looking at those sparkling green eyes light up with excitement. His lips mouthing along to all the words because he's obviously watched these movies way too many times. If I looked hard enough I could start to see the freckles on his face and I couldn't wait until it was summer again so I could see them more clearly.
I loved the way he would look over at me when I laughed at him singing along to the songs. I loved it even more when he would climb on top of me and shut me up with kisses. Mumbling something about not judging him for liking these movies. The whole time my heart wouldn't stop pounding away in my chest. I felt like I couldn't breath and my body burned where ever he touched me. But it felt so good. I just wanted to stay like this with him forever. I didn't want anyone to come and destroy our bubble of happiness.
It was right here, when Michael was kissing me slowly, deeply, intimately, that I realized I could never live without him. He's completely ruined me. And I was okay with that. I was happy even. Knowing that no one would ever satisfy me other than Michael. I had fallen in love with his mind, with his personally. I wanted to suffocate in Michael.
Never was I going to leave him. Never was I going to let anyone harm him. He was mine and mine alone. I was never going to let him go. If he ever wanted to leave me, it would kill me. But I would let him because I loved him too much. If he wasn't happy, I would let him go. But then again, I might just be too selfish to let him leave. I didn't want him to feel like he had to run away again. I want him right here, by my side forever.
Michael Carter Hampton, you are my heaven.
Once all the movies were over, we decided that it was time to settle down and go to bed. It was already dark out side. Michael moved in close to me in the bed and we laid there looking at each other. My hand was resting on his hip, softly stroking his skin underneath my shirt.
"I was thinking ..." Michael said quietly. "For winter break, we should go somewhere." He said.
I smiled a little, "Where would be go?"
"Well you know how my last name is Hampton, right?" He said laughing lightly.
"You're joking." I said starting to laugh as well. "You guys own a Hampton?"
"Dad thought it would be funny. Even though most of our wealth comes from our actual 'family business' of the Hampton Advertising Company and mom, who has other funds from somewhere." Michael said.
"So your dad owns the company?" I asked.
Michael shook his head. "My mom does. It was passed down to her. My dad is the CEO of the company. That's how they met actually. But buying that Hampton was a good investment. They had to fix it up a little, but the whole top floor is a pent house that's owned by us. It's about a five hour drive, but I was hoping we could go. Just you and me." Michael explained.
I leaned in and kissed Michael. "Of course we can. But my mom will obviously want you over for Christmas so we'll have to go after that."
"That's fine. We can spend New Years together." Michael agreed.
He rested his head on my chest when I laid on my back. My arm wrapped around his shoulder, pulling him closer to me. I kissed the top of his head and whispered an 'I love you'. I expected a retort or a light smack, because I knew Michael heard me. But what he said shocked me.
"Say it again." He said quietly. I blinked and looked down at him. He looked up at me and smiled slightly. "Say it again."
"I love you." I repeated. He smiled contently and kissed me one more time before going to sleep. I almost wanted to cry. He was accepting it. He was okay with me saying that I loved him. It was okay for me to say it. I didn't have to fear my feelings being rejected again. And that was probably the best thing that's happened all day.
A/N: Hello~ Yay for another update. Um, so yeah this is just a supper fluffy chapter and sadly, the book only has about six more chapters left + an Epilogue. :( But I promise you Michael and Liam (and Zack and Dylan) will not be leaving forever. Especially not Michael, like jfc I have so much Michael to give you guys *-* Anyways my lovelies, I hope you enjoyed the fluff and Liam's extreme happiness and love for Michael <3 Pick is of Liam!