A/N: Micah Randall is a perfect human being, and I wish him all the happiness in the world.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. These are all CP Coulter's characters.
The Hardest Story
1. When Micah was a kid, he was quiet, and he liked to keep to himself. Being alone doesn't really bother him—but he would've liked it if someone sat next to him during lunch every once in a while.
2. He makes up for his lack of social skills with the number of fictional characters he's attached to. He cares for fictional characters as much as he cares for people in real life, and he's easily moved by the books that he reads.
3. He loves Disney movies almost as much as he loves to read.
4. Micah loves to write, as well. He was chosen to write their class play in sophomore year, and he still considers that one of his greatest achievements.
5. He stays after school one day, to check out the auditorium. Micah wants to see how big the space is, so he can properly work out the blocking for the play. He stops abruptly when he hears music coming from the stage. When he looks up, he sees a tall boy with a mass of dark curls, dancing to the beat of the music. He's terrified at first, and actually thinks he's seeing a ghost. But ghosts, he tells himself, cannot be that beautiful. And he knows that the pounding in his chest isn't quite from fear.
6. Micah officially meets that boy a couple of weeks later, when they're both thrown into the same equipment closet. He knows right away that Shane Anderson is a name that he's going to remember.
7. Micah doesn't fall in love with Shane because he's also into Disney movies, or because he has a nice smile. Micah falls in love with him because Shane makes him laugh, and god knows it's been a while since he's done that.
8. Shane comes over one afternoon, with his copy of Beauty and the Beast, and he walks in on Micah crying over yet another (fictional) loss. The older brunette immediately buries his face in his hands and weakly asks the other boy to leave him alone, just until he composes himself. Instead, Shane sits across him on his bed, and waits until the sobs subside. Once they do, Shane gingerly places his hands on either side of Micah's face and kisses him.
9. That's their first kiss. When Micah asks Shane about it later, the younger Anderson simply chuckles, and mumbles his response. Micah doesn't hear what he says, but the word beautiful is definitely thrown in there somewhere.
10. Later that year, he takes Shane to prom. Ever the condensed ball of energy, Shane is much more enthusiastic about it than he is.
11. By the end of the night, however, Blaine, Jude, and Micah are all beat up pretty badly by a group of jocks. Shane takes him home, and does his best to treat Micah's wounds.
12. When he sees the worried expression the younger brunette has on his face, Micah can't help but blurt out an Iloveyou. And even though he's only ever said that to his parents—and to that one Santa in the mall who promised that he'd do his best to get Micah a puppy—he doesn't doubt the validity of his words.
13. The look on Shane's face assures him that he doesn't doubt him, either. But Micah still lets out a sigh of relief when his boyfriend finally says it back.
14. In the middle of Jude's funeral, Shane firmly grasps his hand.
"What is it?" Micah asks quietly, as he uses his free hand to wipe away his tears.
"Don't leave me," the younger brunette quickly whispers
Micah gently squeezes the other boy's hand. "Never."
15. He will never forgive Mr. Anderson for making him break his promise.
16. He puts up a map in his room the moment he arrives in North Carolina, and he spends his days gingerly running his fingers over the tiny blotch marked Ohio.
17. Before Micah was sent away, he had too many fictional people that he looked up to. While he was in North Carolina, though, one person clearly stood out: Odysseus.
18. Because Odysseus is strong, and brave, he faced monsters, he battled the odds—and still made it back home. (And Micah was a scared boy who wanted nothing more than to get back to his home. It only seemed natural for him to look up to a Greek hero.)
19. It never occurred to him, however, that his Penelope would not wait for him.
20. And though he'll never actually say it out loud, he will always be disappointed that Shane did not stay true to the story.