Michael had been trying to get a hold of Devin for six days now.

Six days without any luck.

Six days without a single 'read' on any of the many text messages he sent. No one on the team had seen him, nor heard from him either.

Fuck: the only thing that Michael could possibly think right now.

It wasn't till the end of the second day, at after school practice, that the coach had to break the news that Devin had transferred to a school, much further away from Marble Hills Academy High school.

Everyone was so surprised, and so upset. Everyone just thought maybe he was sick and wasn't answering the phone. That was the best case scenario. Of course, with the known knowledge, obviously that wasn't the case.

That half answered Michael's question, as to why Devin hadn't been responding to any of his texts. It was his parents. At least, that was that Haijme wanted to believe, and did believe. Devin hadn't—couldn't have—decided to do this on his own. He hadn't been leading Michael the entire time? That was all just Michael's anxiety getting the best of him. That was just his brain coming up with the worst case scenario. Right?

Yeah.

What he was really worried about was Devin's mental health. He wasn't even close to being fine, and Michael already knew about how attached the two had gotten to each other. He couldn't imagine—he also didn't want to imagine—the mental state Devin inevitably was in right now. Whatever it was, it definitely wasn't a good one.

He was just worried about Devin in general, his parents taking him away to go to a whole new school, already halfway through the year. To a place he hadn't ever known before.

His phone possibly had been destroyed, which was why none of Michael's messages were delivered, and he hadn't answered anything.

All in all, so many things could go wrong, and Michael needed some way to contact Devin, to tell him where he was and how Michael could help him. He needed to. For his sake.

But right now, nobody on the team could reach him, and Michael had even gone out of his way to ask Klaus who turned up with the same questions. No one could reach him. No one at all.

"God damnit," Michael said, banging his fist against his wooden desk. Clement heard him from his room underneath Michael's and went to see what was wrong. He had heard about what happened with Devin, and was equally as worried, and had tried reaching out to him too (although to no avail, either). Michael was crying. Shaking and crying, and slowly breaking. Clement hated seeing Michael as torn up as he was.

"Michael," Clement said, walking into his room, quietly. He didn't bother to knock, as there wasn't really a reason either. It wasn't like Michael had been silent behind his closed door, leaving the possibilities of what he could be doing limitless. No, he was being loud and obvious about his anger, and frustration, and anxiety that was brought to him, and Devin wasn't there to help calm him down. No one, it seemed, could shut up the large mound of stressors that were taking turns hitting him: Devin, highschool, picking a college, his family, practices, his team, homework, his part time job, not having enough time to eat, not having time to do things for himself anymore. There was a lot.

Something that Clement knew that the two of them didn't see was the way that they both helped each other. In silent little ways, like Michael grabbing Devin's hand, subconsciously, or Devin hugging Michael for no reason. It helped both of them, although the other one not knowing it did, and when the two weren't together, both of their stress meters went through the roof, and they slowly started to fall apart.

Michael hadn't ever even realized before now, how dependent he had become on Devin, and how much he needed him to get through the days. How much it truly hurt for someone he loved with his entire being to be pulled away from him, completely out of his reach.

It was like Devin had just slipped from his grasp, like running water through his finger tips.

He fucking hated it.

He wanted things to go back to the way that they were, and for Devin's parents to leave the two alone. He wanted Devin to be better, and to feel better, and for Michael to be one of the good things in his life.

it's short!

with love

-aa