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Slowly Michael blink open his eyes, vaguely aware that it was dark and he had a blanket placed around him. He sits up and grimace slightly when he agitates his ankle again. It was doing ok, hardly hurt him at all today but now it was starting to throb. He glance around the lounge room, wondering what he should do. Sleep has now left him and his ankle was hurting.
Dropping his legs over the side of the lounge he tries to stand only to fall back down after a white streak of pain ran up his leg.
Stupid ankle. He pulls his legs to his chest, his hand softly rubbing his ankle. His mind began to wonder to his teammates and if they were actually worrying about him. Max probably would be because he's really into friendship, Eddy would probably be confused as to where he had gotten to, Emily will probably be pleased, Rick was probably telling them to leave him be and Judy will be mad as hell!
He sighs and wraps his arms around his legs, pulling them closer to his chest. For some reason he felt tears begin to sting in his eyes. He tries to blink them away but it was all in vain, soon they began to roll down his cheeks. He gave a almost inaudible sob and buries his face into his knees, knowing that the tears will soak the pure white bandaged.
Why he was crying?
He doesn't know, but he can't stop them.
He continue to cry softly, hiccupping ever now and then, his chest starting to hurt. He bit back a gasp when he felt a hand on his shoulder. His head snaps up to look into a pair of ice blue eyes. The eyes weren't angry like he thought they'd be because he was showing weakness, instead they were soft with a touch of something else.
Not knowing what else to do he quickly adverts his gaze to look at the floor. A moment later the hand was removed and the sound of someone moving about follow. Michael squeeze his eyes shut, figuring he must've been seeing things but then he felt the seat next to him shift by another weight.
Giving an undignified yelp Michael found himself being pulled into Tala's lap. An oh-so evident blush settle itself to his cheeks as the red hair Russian wraps his arms around his waist, pulling him up against chest. Weaken by the tears, Michael let himself fall into his chest, gripping at the fabric of Tala's night shirt.
Tala frowns when he felt the young man in his arms give a tiny sob, his frame trembling. Truth be told, he isn't exactly sure of what he should be doing. It's clear that Michael doesn't want to talk about what's troubling him and it would wrong to ask him now. All he could do now is hold him and wait for the tears to subside.
Time past as it always does and the tears eventually slowed. Tala looks down at the bundle in his arms and notices that the young American has fallen asleep. He sighs and carefully maneuvers the teen in his arms and stands up, carrying Michael bridal style. He gently deposites him on his bed, placing him under the sheets. He yawns and climbs on the bed, not bothering with the sheets and fell asleep on the covers.
… … … … …
Bryan smirks as he quietly closes the door to Tala's bedroom, the image of Tala with his arms around Michael, who was snuggling up against his chest lingers in his mind. He had ventured to the redheads room, looking for the said teen only to stumble across a very interesting sight. He sniggers to himself and wish that he could find his camera.
"Bryan?" Came a deep voice as he reenters the kitchen. "Where's Tala?"
"Sleeping," Bryan replies. "And so is Michael. Quite snug, actually."
"In the same bed?" Spencer asks, removing a mug of coffee away from his lips.
"Yep," Bryan said, bounding over to Spencer, giving him a small peck on the lips. "Want to make a bet?"
Spencer rose an eyebrow. "For what?"
"Well fifty bucks says that something will happen after the two of them wake up, one of them will either say something to tick the other off and the only way those two will get together is through Kai's interference," Bryan said, stealing the coffee from Spencer unresisting grasp.
Spencer remains silent for a minute to regard his boyfriend. He then shakes his head. "Deal."
… … … … …
His eye twitching ever so slightly, Kai stalks his way through the busy streets, a new phone under his arm and a new silent phone number in his hand. He shoves the number into his pocket, mentally reminding himself that the only person who is allowed to use this number is Mr. Dickinson and he will stress to the old man that he is not to give it out. Ever!
Sighing wearily, he shoves the phone into his shoulder bag and pulls out the list of things to do. First he needs to find a pay phone, use it to call the BBA and explain to them why they couldn't reach him and hang up when they ask for the new number. He'll do this every time he needs to talk to the BBA. Don't get him wrong or anything, he's grateful for what the BBA has done for him, but there are limits to how useful someone can be.
"Kai?" Came a very familiar, go lucky voice. Before he has the chance to turn around he was nearly crash tackled by a hyper bond. "Kai! What are you doing here? Are you alone? Did you come to visit? Is there a tournament or something? You're so thin. Have you been eating? Is there something wrong?"
"Whoa, easy there Max," Rick said as he suddenly appears and pulls the constant sugar high blond off the disorientated dual hair blader. "One question at a time, sheesh."
"I'm sorry," Max says with his usual happy puppy expression. "I'm just happy to see you again, Kai, that's all."
Kai blinks, trying to regain his composure. "Right," He said, still in a slight daze.
"So, what brings you to America, anyway, Kai?" Max asks after wriggling from Ricks grasp.
"Um, things," Kai replies, somewhat hesitant.
Max looks confused while Rick looks skeptical. Kai heaves a sigh. "Look," he says quickly in a low voice. "I can't go into details all right, it's just that Boris is mad as hell at us right now, ok? Nothing's wrong, the BBA thought it's better to be safe than sorry, that's all."
Max gave him a look of concern but Kai shook his head, mentally saying it was nothing to be concerned about. Max nods, concern still abundant in his eyes but said nothing. A few moments later the other two members of the All stars appears. Eddy looks confused when he saw Kai but said nothing, while Emily simply regarded everyone with a stare that had hatred oozing from it.
"Well?" She huffs.
"Not a sign," Max replies with a disappointed sigh. "You don't think something happened, do you?"
"Oh, I wish," she huffs again and flicks a stand of hair out of her eyes. "We're better off without him, anyway."
"How can you say that, Emily?" Max asks sadly.
"It's true! What has he done that was beneficial to anyone here?" The group remains silent. "I thought so," She smirks.
Kai was listening silently to this little exchange and suddenly found his blood boil. So, this was the reason Michael said he couldn't go back. His team has no confidence in him outside the Beydish and even that was waning. He wanted to tell all where to get off but bit his lip, if he says anything now they might get suspicious and demand to know where he was keeping him. As if he could keep that spunky yank in one spot for very long against his will.
"You guys have absolutely no idea." Rick snorts.
"What do you mean by that?" Emily asks. It was clear to anyone that she held noting but intense hatred for the taller teen. A hatred than seems to be mutual.
Rick glares the shorter blader and folds his arms across his chest. "Why should I explain it to you? It'll only go in one ear and out the other."
Max manages to jump in before another fight broke out. "Easy you two, there's no point fighting amongst ourselves." Rick looks smug while Emily seem to seethe in her own skin.
Kai rolls his eyes. Well at least there is one person who has confidence in Michael's ability. He thought to himself.
"Hey, Kai." Max turned his attention to him. "You haven't by any chance seen Michael, have you?"
There was a moment of silence before Kai replies. "No, I haven't."
… … … … …
The sound of soft breathing was the first thing Michael heard after he began to move from dreamland to reality. Slowly he ease his eyes open and found himself looking at a light blue material, one of which he was grasping with his two hands. He blinks when he realizes that the material belong to a shirt, a shirt that was being worn by a certain redhead. Startled he looks up to see Tala's sleeping face. The blush return when he realize that he was being held in a very protective embrace by the said Russian.
How the hell did this happen?
That blush was magnified ten fold when one of Tala's hands slowly began to creep down from his back to settle on his butt.
He gave an undignified squeak and abruptly sits up, pushing Tala off the bed. "You pervert!" he said when he heard a satisfying thud. He crawls over to the other side of the bed to grasp at his shirt, his heart racing. Just why is his heart beating so hard anyway?
"What the hell!" Came Tala's enraged voice as he stands up from the floor. "What the hell is wrong with you?" He sneers.
"You pervert! I can't believe you'd take advantage of me like that!" Michael cries, pointing an accusing finger at the redhead.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"You started to grope me in your sleep!" Michael said, voicing his embarrassment.
Tala's eyes widen a fraction, fill with shock but was quickly replaced with anger. "Well, don't worry about it, it won't happen again, I can assure you," He sneers, his eyes into slits. "I would never do it in reality."
"What are you saying, not good enough for you then?"
"Damn straight!" Tala hisses. "Well, no wonder you don't want to go back to the PPA, they're probably sick of your attitude." A shocked silence from the American was his only response.
He stares at Tala with a fish out of water expression. "I see," Michael swallows, his voice was barely above a whisper with hurt laced through it. "I guess some things can't be helped, can they?"
Blinking once, Tala looks confused at the teen sitting on his bed. What on earth is going on with this kid? One second ago he was as feisty as rat in a paper bag but now he was as timid as a baby deer who has lost it's mother.
Swallowing thickly, Michael slips his legs over the side of the bed and stands up, ignoring the pain in his leg. "Well, if my attitude is annoying, Tala," Michael says suddenly, his voice colder than the winter chill. "I suppose I should leave." With that said he walks out of the bed room and into the laundry, looking for his old clothes. He found them folded on a pile of clothes. He then walks into the bathroom and slips on his clothes.
Tala stares at the retreating back as Michael left his room. His mind went blank about what he should do, if anything. Did he go too far? Does what he says really matters to the Yank? Why does he let someone like him get to him with a few words? What's going to happen now?
Michael tugs on his clothes and viciously wipes his eyes. Maybe Tala was right, maybe he just has an attitude problem. Maybe it's all his fault. He shakes his head to clear it and quickly walks out of the room. As he was about to reach the front door it opened to reveal Kai as he was about to come in.
"Michael?" Kai says with surprise.
"Michael!"
Michael shakes his head and pushes past Kai. "I'm sorry," he tells the clearly confused teen and flees down the hallway, a light trail tears flowing behind him.
Still not understanding what was currently happening, Kai glances down the hall at Michael's retreating form and then to Tala's slightly annoyed and guilty expression. He heaves a sigh and pushes Tala back inside, his eyes narrow and voice tired. "You. Me. Kitchen. Talk. Now."
"Now?" Tala winces.
"Now."
One more chapter down, hopefully one to go. Chappy a little longer than what I usually do, but I was on a roll :P
Next chapter: Kai and Tala talk. Michael goes back.
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