that update made me a mess i loved it so much and i love that michael is understanding that he has every right to be angry!!! it was amazing :-)
I’m glad you enjoyed the chapter! I’ve known for a little while now that when the story got to this point - when Michael got to his breaking point - that everything was going to get a little messy. It’s extremely, extremely important that Michael’s breaking point came now - that Michael realized he had a right to be mad and that he needs to be mad - so that the good things can finally happen… Though, I should probably add that nothing is in the clear yet. Because, holy hell, I haven’t even touched the conclusion to the Finn/Archer story line, and that is going to be a bit of a doozy. ;)
So I’m going to try to get back onto my old updating schedule, which would place updates for It must be Magic around midnight on Sundays (into Mondays) for me, but that won’t be for this particular update - or at least, I won’t be posting it tonight.
In the mean time, here is a glimpse of the next chapter. It’s so rough that I don’t know if I’m going to head this direction, but it looks promising thus far. Enjoy?
“Where’d your Gryffindor bodyguard fuck off to?” asks Louis.He is clearly speaking to Michael, but he doesn’t look up at him. He keeps hisattention, instead, on his game with Zayn. A six of clubs is face-up, but Louiscan’t play any of his three cards on it, so he draws another one from thestack. He grumbles underneath his breath then nods at Zayn, indicating he can’tplay.
It’s almost like Michael isn’t even in the room. Michaelflinches. He’s always known Louis can hold a grudge like no other—it has beenobvious enough over the years of watching Louis and Nick Grimshaw butt heads—but he never considered that Louismight be unhappy with him for choosing Ashton over Louis earlier.
“Play nice, Lou,” murmurs Zayn. He looks over at Michael,and he is much kinder than Louis had been when he speaks. “Did you get what youwanted? Did Ashton fix everything for you?”
Zayn actually sounds hopeful, like he wants nothing morethan Ashton to have made everything in Michael’s life better again, and itcrashes all over Michael in the worst of ways. Unprepared for the assault,Michael buckles against it. He grabs the doorframe when he’s afraid that hisknees might not hold his weight any longer. He feels shaky all over, like he’sliable to end up in a pile on the floor anyway. His entire body flushes,humiliated.
“No.”
“No?” repeats Louis, surprised. His gaze snaps to Michaelfor the first time since Michael arrived, and they’re sharp with concern. “Hetook you to Calum and Luke, didn’t he? To explain? I was damn certain they’dlisten to him.”
“They, er—they did.”
“Then what’s the problem? You’ve got your happy ending,don’t you?” asked Louis.
“It’s not that easy,” says Michael, quietly. Heaverts his eyes from Louis, unable to stand the intensity of them. He doesn’tthink he has ever said a truer statement in his entire life.