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[occurs in an alternative universe where total drama didn't happen, and ezekiel + mike have known each other since kids. both are 18+ in this and are roommates. in this point of the story, they live in a house and not an apartment. (i forgot to add this but Michael is Mike's dad if it wasn't obvious)]
[trigger warnings are listed in the summary. please don't read anything that could hurt you.]
Mike sat in front of the window, watching and waiting for the inevitable arrival of the mail man. He may have convinced Ezekiel to order some candy, as his favorite wasn't avaliable at the nearest store, but it was avaliable to buy from a farther location and have it shipped to the house. Which is what they did.
As he thought about it (through the positively impatient chatter in his head), it may have been influenced by someone else and hadn't been entirely Mike's choice, but it was candy. He didn't refuse food, let alone candy.
'When's it gonna get here? Is it here yet? Is that the mail man?' Finn bombarded him with questions, making Mike antsy himself. "I don't know.." He mumbled excitedly to himself, biting his lip in anticipation and shifting in his spot.
Although they seemed to wish it into reality, as he caught sight of the mail man and had to stop himself before he ran out the door. He hopped from one foot to the other and waited until he couldn't see the familiar blue outfit anymore, flying out to the mailbox without a second thought.
There was a lot of junk mail that came with it, but the bland, bulky package was unmistakable. He squeaked happily and ran back in the house, shutting and locking the door behind him. But his eye caught on a white envelope falling to the floor, and he looked down at it curiously. Setting down the other stuff in his hands, he gingerly picked it up and flipped it over, only feeling more confused.
"I see the package came, eh?" Ezekiel giggled as he approached the pile, looking through the junk mail. He looked up at the envelope in the taller man's hands. "What's that?"
"I don't know, but it has my name on it." Mike held it out to him, and it indeed had his name elegantly written out in cursive on the front. "Should I open it?" He flipped it back to face him, wearing an unsure expression.
"It could be important. Let's sit on the couch and read it."
'No, let's open the candy!' Finn protested, but against his wishes, Mike joined Ezekiel on the couch. He delicately opened the envelope, not wanting to rip it. His stomach churned anxiously as he pulled out a piece of paper and unfolded it, beginning to read the fancy handwriting out loud.
"Dear Mike,
You haven't returned any of my letters, but I hope you know we miss you. We recently drove by the high school.. Gave me a lot of nostalgia I never thought I'd experience a second time.
I long for the feeling of hugging my son, but I'm sure you have your reasons. I want to tell you again that we forgive you for all the years of hurt we went through with you. You probably didn't mean it; we know you love us.
Your father has been getting some lung problems, might need to have one removed. He's in the hospital at the moment. He asked me to write, he wants to see you. Maybe this time you'll write back.
Praying you'll come to your senses and visit. You always have a space here. Ezekiel is more than welcome to come too. We love you.
Love, Mom ♡"
Mike felt like he couldn't breathe. His vision blurred and his eyes burned like hell, he saw the faint shapes of his hands shaking as the first few tears began to fall. He faintly heard Ezekiel saying something in a panicked tone, but the sound of his heartbeat thumping in his ears drowned out a lot of the noise around him. He had to get this letter away from him, at least until he could think clearly enough to know what to do with it.
He sprang up from the couch and nearly sprinted towards his bedroom, yanking open his closet door and spotting a shoe box on the top shelf. He didn't know what was in it, but that hardly mattered to him at that moment.
When he tried to pull it down, it toppled over and spilled its contents on the ground in front of him. Tons of other letters, he could guess fifteen. As he picked up another one, he realized all of them, every single one was signed off by his mother. He felt horrifically nauseated.
His chest only tightened as he sat down on the floor, pressing his back against the wall and pulling his knees up to his chin. He tried to catch his breath and try to create some even breathing pattern, but it only made him feel worse. He felt his jeans start to wet as his tears flowed down his face, starting to make his skin feel sticky and gross.
~~
Ezekiel jumped up from his spot as Mike ran off, and he wanted to go after him, but he was conflicted between the options. 'He might not hurt himself, but I should go just in case, but I can trust him, he's probably just putting the letter away, I don't know-' His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of something falling, and he rushed to his bedroom doorway to see an upside down box, scattered pieces of paper, and a heavily breathing Mike(?) sitting against the wall.
His friend was hiding his face in his arms and didn't look up as Ezekiel approached the mess, putting the papers back in the box, including the most recent letter. He saw that the other papers were written the same way, and he got a mixed feeling in his chest. Hurt? Sadness? He couldn't exactly tell, it just felt negative.
Every time the dark brunette took in a sharp breath, Ezekiel felt another pang in his heart and the need to hug him or hold his hand, but he didn't know if he wanted to be touched right now. He simply put the shoe box back in the closet and shut it, sitting next to him with some space in-between.
After some more internal debating, he decided to speak. "Do you need anything, eh?" He softly asked, fidgeting with his hands.
The other curled in a little tighter, gripping the material of his jeans. "I need to be alone." He muttered, his tone vastly different (and a little deeper) than usual. Ezekiel recognized that it probably wasn't Mike speaking to him, and he silently nodded, standing up and leaving the room.
Although once Ezekiel stepped into the living room, he had no idea what to do. The TV would be a problem since the noise leaked through the thin walls, and he didn't want to make a commotion trying to make food in the kitchen. But at the same time, he needed to be doing at least *something.*
He walked into his room and rummaged through some unmarked drawers, finding origami paper. 'This is pretty quiet.' A small smile tugged at his lips as he sat down on the ground with a stack of the colorful square paper, beginning the folds of a butterfly.
He was at it for a while, he wasn't sure exactly how long, but when he heard shuffling and quiet knocking on his door, there was at least two handfuls of butterflies in a pile. "Come in." He called at a reasonable volume, putting the unfolded papers back in the drawer.
The body of Mike opened the door, Ezekiel immediately switching the names in his head when he saw his combed back hair. Vito was holding the shoe box that had been put away earlier, looking at Ezekiel with an expression he couldn't quite decipher. "Can we get a fire going?"
The one on the floor had a look of surprise flash across his face for a moment, and he stood up from his spot. "Um.. Yeah, sure, eh." He scooped up the butterflies and put them on the bed, following Vito out onto the back porch. They gathered some wood and arranged it accordingly, putting some firestarter on it. Vito struck a match and threw it onto the pile, a bright flame bursting from the pit.
They sat down on the edge of the porch, Vito pulling his knees to his chest. The two were silent for a few minutes as they watched the fire burn, inhaling the interesting smells of it while occasionally avoiding the dark smoke.
"Why did you wanna start a fire, eh?" Ezekiel asked genuinely, starting to swing his dangling legs.
Vito pulled the box towards him on his left, keeping it close. "I want to burn these letters." He said bluntly, letting one leg fall and swing over the edge of the porch. "Holding onto them doesn't do anything but hurt us, so we might as well."
The light brunette nodded, staring into the flames. "Makes sense."
They fell silent once more, the crackling of the bonfire filling the air.
"I don't know why she calls herself a mother." His face was tense, almost a grimace as he spoke. "She wasn't a mom, no matter how much she tries to convince us and herself that she is. She was a bystander. She turned a blind eye every time." He brought his other leg back up on the porch, holding his legs and resting his chin on his knees. "You remember the state we used to arrive at your farm in." He shifted eye contact to Ezekiel, biting the inside of his mouth.
"Yeah, I do, eh. I was always really scared of accidentally hurting you- him in my sleep." He was reminded of the far too many memories of seeing Mike arrive covered in bruises and cuts, being worried and panicked over him but not knowing how to help. He remembered watching his mother carefully wrap up his open wounds and give him ice packs, and the beyond grateful smile that he wore whenever she was finished.
"Michael always said it was just a fight at school. The dog was playing too rough. I fell down the stairs. Excuses." Vito scoffed and picked a pebble out of a crevice in the porch, tossing it into the fire pit.
"I think it's worse that I would've believed him if Mike didn't tell me what was actually happening."
"Everyone did believe him. That's why we didn't get help for so long, why you and your family were a place of solace for us. You believed us. And tried to get us away, as best you could."
"I'm sorry we couldn't keep you permanently." Ezekiel gave him an empathetic look.
"It's fine, you would have gotten hurt if you succeeded. You actually and truthfully did the best you could." His acorn brown eyes glinted in the light of the fire. "What matters now is we're safe from them, even if they keep trying to bring us back with their fake promises and their gaslighting."
"Yeah."
The movements of the flames were mesmerizing, the quiet between them felt peaceful with the fire to focus on. The increasing need to show affection towards him was tugging at Ezekiel's mind though, and he couldn't shake it off. 'I might as well ask. If he says no, he says no.'
"Is it okay if I give you a hug?" He asked, looking towards the man beside him and patiently waiting for an answer.
Vito didn't respond for a moment, seeming very unsure. But despite that, he silently moved closer to Ezekiel and let his legs fall over the wood of the porch. "Sure."
He slightly tensed when Ezekiel put his arms around him, but let out a small sigh and returned the embrace. The hug didn't last long, as Vito didn't particularly like being touched while he was fronting, but he would be lying if he said he didn't feel a little better.
"Thank you."
"Yeah, of course, eh."
Vito pulled the box into his lap and opened it, splitting the stack and giving one half to Ezekiel. They silently dropped their respective letters in the fire, the burning hot inferno eating away at the paper and hungrily reaching for their hands as they put them in front of it.
They watched as the looped words and small hearts became unintelligible husks of black ash, never to be read again.
~~
Mike whined and gently clutched his head as Ezekiel piled a weighted blanket him, lifting his head from his pillow. "My head hurts.."
"It takes a minute for the ibuprofen to work, eh. You just gotta wait." Ezekiel continued setting up a comfortable bed space, throwing some of their stuffed animals on the bed. Mike immediately grabbed one and held it against his face, slowly rolling onto his stomach.
"I've felt too many emotions today.. I need a nap." He mumbled into the stuffie, causing the other to giggle.
"I won't stop you, I'm just turning on a movie. If anything, now's the time to nap."
"Cool." Mike smiled and switched to resting his cheek on the toy, scooting close to Ezekiel once he got into the bed with him. "Thanks for setting all this up, Zeke."
"Of course, eh. Kinda wanted to do it anyway, my room was looking boring." He reached down and lightly ruffled Mike's spiky hair, laughing when his hand was jokingly swatted away.
As they nestled into the bed to watch the movie, Ezekiel opened up the candy bag, giving Mike a handful which he promptly shoved in his mouth. They were bite sized, but it still got him the "don't put them all in your mouth at once" comment, which he stuck his tongue out in response to.
It was a great night.