luke-the-magical-penguin asked for a part two to this little ditty about roommate!michael and i was inspired, so here’s this companion piece. you don’t reallyyyyy need to read the little ditty for this to make sense, but yanno, it’s there if you’d like to (and i think it’d be pretty cool if you did) :)
word count: 3956
Just knowing that you were on a date with someone who wasn't him was enough to keep Michael distracted, even when he was having sex with another girl. As awful as it was, all he could imagine underneath him was you and the fact that you could possibly be in this same position right now with Luke only made Michael's grip on the girl's hips tighten and his thrusts harder.
After he and his partner for the night both got off, she left unceremoniously, leaving as just the others always did -- with a flirty smile and a reminder to text or call them in a sickeningly sweet tone that he knew wasn't natural. And he responded as he always did -- with a half-hearted wave from where he lay on his bed with the sheets pooled around him and an insincere promise to do as they asked before asking them to close his bedroom door and lock the apartment door on their way out.
He wasn't sure if he was relieved or distressed when you'd returned to the apartment with Luke in tow because on one hand, that meant that you two (probably) hadn't slept together at Luke's place. On the other hand, that also meant that you two could possibly be about to sleep together in your room -- just across the hall from his -- and judging by the way the sounds of Brothers by The Black Keys started softly floating from your room, Michael figured that was the route you were going down.
Before you and Luke got started -- the thought of which made Michael screw his face up in distaste -- he weighed his options.
He could leave the apartment; although that meant putting clothes on and he was pretty comfortable lying around naked right now so he wasn't sure he could be bothered with that. Or he could stay at the apartment and just put in headphones.
Or, he could try and kill the mood for you and Luke. A wide smirk began to spread across his face at the idea that he was quickly taking a liking to.
Now, he just had to decide how he wanted to kill the mood for you and Luke and after momentarily debating between playing a video game or just playing music of his own, he decided to go with the latter. Grabbing his laptop, he opened up Spotify and started to play Brand New's discography, making sure that the volume of his music was loud enough to be heard over yours. He guessed that lyrics like "Have another drink and drive yourself home / I hope there's ice on all the roads / And you think of me when you forget your seatbelt / and again when your head goes through the windshield" weren't really lyrics that anyone really wanted to fuck to.
His assumption was proven correct minutes later when there was the sound of a fist -- no doubt yours -- pounding against his bedroom door. From that alone, he could guess that, at the very least, you were annoyed, and he imagined your annoyance was only increasing by the fact that he was taking his sweet time to answer.
He was right again when he opened the door to see your brow furrowed, your eyes narrowed, and your lips pursed -- though your expression momentarily changed to one of surprise when you realized he was completely naked. Averting your eyes, you kept your gaze laser focused on his eyes as you stiffly asked, "Michael, if you're going to listen to music, could you please use headphones?"
"Why?" he wondered, just to annoy you even more. Even if he hadn't known you had Luke in your room, the flannel that you haphazardly buttoned up made the fact glaringly obvious.
"Because I have someone over," you tersely replied, crossing your arms tight against your chest, "and I always do the same if I'm home when you have someone over, which is all the fucking time, so if you could please extend the same courtesy to me, I would greatly appreciate that."
At that, Michael deflated. He realized that in being petty, he was also being an unfair roommate, because you were right. He did have a lot of girls over and never once had you complained, so even though he really hated the fact that you had someone over (and hated Luke even more for being the someone that you had over), you had a point.
Sucking up his pride, Michael forced his most convincing smile. "Right. Of course," he agreed, before trying to sound as sincere as he could while he apologized. "Sorry about that."
"Thank you," you breathed, turning to walk back to your room afterwards without so much as a backwards glance.
At the sight of your closed door, he figured that he should do the same, closing his own door behind him before returning to his bed and grabbing the headphones from his nightstand. While he would've loved to hear what sounds you made, he didn't want to hear them knowing that they were at the hands (...and other body parts) of Luke. Instead, Michael focused on Jesse Lacey's voice singing the lyrics to "Degausser" and tried not to fixate on how much he wished that it were him with you between the sheets.
"Take me, take me back to your bed. I love you so much that it hurts my head."
The fact that you'd brought Luke over so many times since going on your date with him had to be punishment for all the times Michael had brought home random girls. It had to be. He didn't find the situation to be very great now that the roles were switched and you were the one bringing someone home and he was surprised that you'd never once confronted him for constantly doing so. Seeing you with Luke more than once was already enough to make him lose his mind, let alone multiple times.
"This is all your fault, you know," Michael accused of Calum as they ate breakfast at a local cafe. "If you hadn't moved out to live with your girlfriend, I wouldn't be in this situation."
Calum chuckled, his hands fiddling with his glass of orange juice. "I'm not the one who agreed to let Y/N move in with you," he reminded Michael.
"She was the most normal person who responded to my Craigslist ad and she's hot," Michael argued. "What else was I supposed to do?"
Calum shrugged. "Tell her that you were interested in her when you had an inkling you were developing feelings instead of ignoring them?" he guessed, making Michael scowl. "Who's the guy she's seeing again?"
"Some guy named Luke," Michael all but spat, angrily cutting into his waffles afterwards.
"Hemmings?"
"I think so," Michael answered, looking up and into the distance as if the answer would appear to him before he decided he didn't care what Luke's last name was and shook his head. "I don't know. I don't care. All I know is that I hate him."
Calum knit his eyebrows as he scooped another bite of eggs into his mouth. He looked thoughtful as he chewed, asking after he swallowed his food, "How do you know they're dating? How do you know they're not just hooking up?"
Michael frowned, taking Calum's words into consideration. "I don't know," he admitted with a shrug. "I guess I just assumed, but I feel like if she were just hooking up with him, why would he be the first guy she's ever brought home?"
"I don't know," Calum repeated, shrugging as well. "She's your roommate, not mine. Plus, you haven't even been living with her for that long. Who's to say this is the first guy she's brought home ever? For all you know, this could just be the first guy she's brought home while she's been living with you."
Michael groaned, bringing his head down to rest against the table. "As much as I'm enjoying discussing what Y/N's sex life is possibly like, this still doesn't solve my dilemma," he whined, his voice coming out muffled because of the tabletop.
"Just square up and tell her how you feel," Calum suggested very matter-of-factly.
Michael lifted his head to look at Calum dubiously. "Tell her how I feel?" he asked. "For all either of us know, she could actually be and very well may be dating Luke and you want me to tell her how I feel?"
"What's the worst that could happen?" Calum wondered, taking a sip of his orange juice afterwards and looking entirely too nonchalant at the moment for Michael's liking.
"What's the worst that could happen?" Michael repeated in disbelief. He threw his arms up exasperatedly. "Oh, I don't know, Calum, just that I'd be telling a girl -- a girl that I live with -- that has a boyfriend that I have feelings for her."
"Assuming that Luke even is actually her boyfriend," Calum reminded Michael, "which he might not be."
"So basically, you're telling me to take that chance and hope to god that he's not her boyfriend and they're just hooking up?" Michael deadpanned, fixing Calum with a rather unamused expression.
Calum pursed his lips in thought as he considered Michael's words. "Yeah, I guess I am," he agreed.
Michael groaned again. "What am I supposed to do if they actually are dating then?"
Calum tilted his head to the side, counting off his fingers as he listed off ideas. "You could make her move out as heartless as that'd be," he began. "Or you could move out yourself."
"Neither of those options sound remotely ideal in the slightest."
Calum laughed, which prompted Michael to kindly tell him, "You know, I'm beginning to hate you too."
"Just tell her, Mikey," Calum urged, ignoring Michael's remark. "You never know unless you try, right?" Then, his lips started to pull up into a smirk and Michael knew he wouldn't like what Calum had to say next. "At the worst, if no one wants to move out, you two just have to live in awkwardness until your lease is up."
"Fuck you."
Michael would be lying if he said that he wasn't lying around in his room, waiting for you to get back from class. When he heard the front door close, he promptly walked out of his room, strolling into the kitchen just as you did.
"Hey," he said casually on his way to the fridge. As he opened the door, he asked, "how was class?"
"Hey!" you replied with a warm smile, before you stopped at the island, leaning against it and resting your arms on the countertop. "Class was good. How about you? How was your day?"
"My day was alright. You know, class is class," he chuckled while retrieving a water bottle from the fridge.
At your request, he grabbed another one for you before closing the fridge, making your smile widen as he handed it to you. The two of you stood, rooted at your respective spots in the kitchen, just drinking water for a moment and Michael figured this was part of why he liked you. He liked the way he felt so comfortable around you, even from the moment you two first met. Liked how you two fell into being roommates so quickly. Liked that you two could do something as mundane as drink water together without it feeling odd or awkward.
"What are you doing this Friday?" Michael asked after he capped off his water bottle. He was surprised to find that he had already finished off about half of it, not realizing he was that thirsty. Or, well, thirsty for water, anyway.
"I don't know," you answered once you'd capped off your own water bottle, shrugging. "Maybe hang out with Luke." Michael forced himself to keep from crushing the plastic in his hands out of irritation. "Blow off some steam. I don't know." You shrugged again. "Why?"
"Was thinking of ordering Chinese and marathoning a show on Netflix and wondering if I should order for two," he replied nonchalantly.
"Yeah!" you exclaimed without hesitation. Your face lit up, making his insides flutter, but he fought to keep his expression neutral instead of revealing the giddiness he actually felt. "I've totally been craving the dumplings from that place you always order from off Grubhub."
"I always knew you only liked me for the fact that I order dumplings," he joked.
"Can you blame me?" you laughed, going along with what he said. "They're some damn good dumplings."
Without another word, you turned and started to walk to your room. He stood in his spot still as he watched you go, finding himself blurting out to you just before you turned the corner, "Friday night, it's a date!"
You immediately stopped in your tracks at his remark. Once he realized what he'd said, his cheeks promptly flushed from embarrassment. He hoped that you'd either take his comment as a joke or that the ground would open up and swallow him whole. Whichever happened first.
The universe seemed to be looking out for him though, because you seemed to take his words as a joke. "You and me, Friday night," you agreed, before disappearing around the corner. He heard your door close moments later and then let out a deep breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
After he returned to his room, he flopped onto his bed and then reached for his phone, needing to text Calum for what he felt was some desperately needed insight.
What does it mean if a girl tells you that she only likes you because you order dumplings when you order Chinese food?
Also, if you tell a girl, "Friday night, it's a date," and she tells you, "you and me, Friday night," does that mean she's agreeing it's a date?
And how do you make eating Chinese food and watching Netflix sexy?
But in a subtle way
Like "hey I like you and wouldn't be against sleeping with you one day"
Not "hey we are definitely Netflix and chilling"
Btw, do you think Pokemon is a good show to watch on Netflix with a girl?
"Ash is a really terrible Pokemon trainer," you pointed out in regards to Ash trying to battle a Pidgetto with a Caterpie. Afterwards, you took a bite from the dumpling in-between the chopsticks in your hands.
"He's just barely starting out," Michael defended. "He's still learning."
Once you swallowed the bite of food in your mouth, you scoffed. "So?" you asked. "For the past 10 years of his life, he's been obsessed with Pokemon. Just look at his fucking bedroom. You'd think considering his obsession and the fact that he wants to be a Pokemon master, he'd at least know that a bug-type like Caterpie is at a disadvantage against a flying-type like Pidgeotto." You paused to take a breath and shake your head. "Why would you even use a bug-type like Caterpie when you have an electric-type like Pikachu to easily zap and shock Pidgeotto with." You popped the rest of your dumpling into your mouth, apparently still too worked up to wait until you swallowed your food before continuing. "I don't like Gary, but at least he knows what he's doing unlike Ash here."
"Hey, you take that back!" Michael protested indignantly.
"I will not take that back because it's the truth," you replied stubbornly. "Ash is a fucking amateur."
"Because he is an amateur! He just started his journey recently! What do you expect?" Michael argued.
You scoffed again. "Why's Gary so knowledgable then if they both started their journeys at the same time?"
"Uh, because his grandpa is a Pokemon professor?" Michael reminded you very matter-of-factly.
"So?" you asked. "Doesn't mean Professor Oak passed down his knowledge of Pokemon the moment Gary was born. He had to learn, obviously, just like Ash could've and obviously didn't." Michael opened his mouth to respond, but you spoke again before he could. "Plus, Pokemon types are literally just common sense. I mean, you wouldn't expect a worm to win a fight against a bird, would you? Birds literally eat worms."
"Whatever," Michael muttered petulantly, knowing that he was defeated (and that even if he wasn't, you'd probably argue with him until he chose defeat). "I'm still Team Ash. Fuck you, Gary."
The rest of your Pokemon marathon continued in a similar fashion -- you'd make some comment, Michael would argue with you in defense of Ash, you would argue with Michael in defense of your point, and Michael would just choose defeat. He didn't really mind though, just glad that you were spending your time with him (and not with Luke). Even if you were taking a cartoon targeted towards children a little too seriously, that was just another quality he realized he liked about you -- your passion for even the most trivial of subjects.
"This is the first badge Ash has actually earned," you said after Ash received the thunder badge.
Your Pokemon marathon still going strong 14 episodes later, you both had long finished your food and you'd taken to tucking yourself into Michael's side, placing your legs across his lap. He was sure you were only feeling cuddly because you'd recently eaten -- and between him and the couch, he guessed that he was more comfortable -- but he didn't question the reason behind your affection, happy to have you in some way, even if it weren't necessarily the way he wanted.
"Are you saying he didn't earn his first two badges?" Michael wondered, beginning to absentmindedly run a hand up and down your legs. The action made you press yourself closer to his side and he couldn't help but let a small smile grace his face.
"That's exactly what I'm saying," you answered. "Ash should've lost his second battle against Brock. The only reason he won was because he had an unfair advantage when the sprinklers went off. Ash didn't deserve the badge he got from Misty either. The only reason he got that badge was because their battle got interrupted by Team Rocket and Misty's sisters felt bad for him."
Michael just hummed in agreement, choosing not to argue with you this time. "Her sisters are pretty, huh?" he asked instead.
"Yeah, they're like really pretty mermaids," you offhandedly agreed, your attention more focused on the TV screen.
"They're not as pretty as you though," he complimented, trying to keep his tone light and teasing even though his heart was just slightly beating faster at his bold move.
He reached over to gently pinch your cheek for effect, making you swat his hand away before telling him to stop. The small upturn of your lips told him that you weren't actually annoyed and at the very least, amused, if only barely.
"What, your boyfriend going to get mad that another guy called you pretty?" Michael teased, even though just using the word 'boyfriend' in the context of you made him bitter.
"Boyfriend?" you repeated, diverting your gaze from the TV to fully focus on Michael now. A part of him wished your attention was still divided, knowing that the conversation you were about to have wasn't going to really be one he would enjoy having.
"Yeah, that really tall blond guy you usually have over," Michael clarified.
"Luke?" you checked. Michael nodded in response and his non-verbal answer seemed to be enough to make you return your gaze to the TV before revealing, "Oh, he's not my boyfriend."
"He's not?"
"No, we're just hooking up," you admitted, shrugging afterwards. "It's really casual, to be honest."
"First date didn't go so well then, did it?" he joked, hoping he didn't seem as excited as he was feeling at your revelation. Even though you were sleeping with Luke and Michael hated that, at least you two weren't in a serious relationship.
You laughed. "The date went well," you corrected, both confusing and mildly irritating Michael. "He's a gentleman and a total sweetheart. Really smart and funny once you get to know him. We just realized we're better as friends though. There's nothing remotely romantic between the two of us."
Silence fell between the two of you, the only source of noise coming from the TV while the Pokemon theme song played. As the next episode began, eventually, Michael worked up the courage to say the words dancing on the tip of his tongue, "That's good."
"That's good?" you echoed, shifting from your gaze from the TV to him again and fuck, he especially wished you hadn't done that now of all times.
"Yeah," he confirmed, practically having forced the word out instead of trying to take back what he'd said like his insecurities were begging him to.
You asked the inevitable follow-up question. "Why is that good?"
"That's good because," he slowly began, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath before he said his next words, "I have feelings for you."
"You…have feelings…for me?" you asked, your voice tinged with disbelief and he tried not to be offended even though he couldn't say he wasn't surprised. "Michael Clifford, the guy who's literally had numerous girls walk out of his bedroom -- never more than once per girl -- is trying to tell me that he has feelings for me?"
"Would you believe me if I said I only hooked up with so many different random girls because I didn't know what to do with my feelings?" he tried, chuckling nervously.
Hesitantly, he opened his eyes, finding you looking at him with a pensive expression on your face. He could see the gears turning in your head, probably trying to decide if you believed him or not.
"I guess I do," you finally said, filling him with relief at your answer, "since I pretty much did the same with Luke."
The relief he'd felt was quickly replaced by both surprise and happiness at your next words. "You what?"
You rolled your eyes, but smiled. "I have feelings for you too," you clarified, making his heart swell with excitement, "but since you didn't seem like you'd feel that way about anyone -- let alone me -- when Luke asked me out, I decided that I at least liked him as a person enough to give him a chance and even though we decided we wouldn't work out romantically, sexually--"
He placed his hand over your mouth, effectively cutting you off before you no doubt told him about how you and Luke were attracted enough to each other to fuck. "I don't need to know anymore," Michael informed you.
He could feel you smiling against his hand and he removed it so you could speak. "You asked," you reminded him, shrugging innocently afterwards.
Silence -- save for the sounds coming from the TV -- fell over the room again as Michael thought over what to say (or do) next. You two revealed that you had feelings for each other; now what?
"Does this mean you're not going to sleep with Luke anymore?" he pondered.
"I don't know; does this mean you're not going to sleep with different random girls anymore?" you replied, mimicking his tone of voice.
Michael laughed and then dared to lean over and kiss your temple. "The only girl I really, truly want in my bed is you."
"Whoa," you said, raising your eyebrows, "at least take me on a date first, Clifford."
"Oh, I definitely plan to, don't you worry," he reassured you. "I'll take you on a date and as many as you want after that."
