Thankfully within the next couple days Parker was feeling better, and Michael was able to send him off to school again without having to worry about Parker puking all over the place.

That meant Michael had to go back to work, though, and he was not very thankful for that. Matt just really creeped him out, he was always either hanging around obnoxiously close to Michael or hiding in the back room, doing whatever it was that he did back there.

Michael wanted to quit, so badly, but he knew that he couldn't. He really needed a job of some form to just bring in some money for Parker. He had money from his parents (who were very nice about Michael's situation and did their best to help in whatever way they could) and he also got money from Beth every month, kind of like child support, but it still didn't seem like that was enough.

He needed to keep the job, no matter how much he hated it.

"Michael." Matt called as he walked towards the front of the store, his hands shoved down in his pockets.

"Yes?" Michael asked, annoyed. He was not in a good mood today, and he wasn't ready for Matt to come over and say something ridiculously irrelevant about Melissa again.

"Can you unpack that box and put all of those CDs on the right shelves?" Matt asked, gesturing over to a box that was sitting in the corner of the store. It came in earlier that day, Michael had to sign for it when it was delivered.

"Yeah." Michael nodded, hoping that since Matt was done giving him instructs now he'd slither back to that room he always hung out in.

"And if Mel stops by can you tell her to come back and see me?" He asked, and Michael couldn't help but letting out a big groan. He was sick and tired of Melissa and Matt having these secret conversations all the time.

It wasn't even because Michael was insecure anymore, and it wasn't necessarily because he was jealous either. He was just really fucking annoyed with the way that Melissa never told him the truth about anything, and Michael was uncomfortable with the fact that his girlfriend was constantly going into small rooms in the back of music stores with her ex-boyfriend.

"Why do you always need to talk to my girlfriend?" Michael questioned, raising his voice at little.

"What?"

"Why do you always need to talk to Melissa?" Michael repeated himself, speaking slower. Maybe Matt just didn't understand him. It would make sense, he was pretty stupid.

"We just...have things to discuss." Matt said hesitantly, nervously looking around the store. No one else was in there at the moment, and that was really the only reason why Michael was actually talking. Usually he tried to be as silent as possible.

"Like what?" Michael asked, folding his arms over his chest. He was pretty surprised with the way he was acting, he usually didn't stand up for himself like this.

"It's not even a big deal, Michael, we just talk." Matt shrugged. "We're friends; we dated for a long time and we're still close to each other. You're still friends with your ex, aren't you?"

"That's a completely different situation." Michael said, shaking his head. "My ex-girlfriend and I have a son together, we have to talk with each other so we can discuss things that involve him and we're still friends for his sake."

"Then don't you think Mel feels the same way that you do? Don't you think she's a little, dare I say it, jealous, that you're so close with your ex-girlfriend?" Matt interrogated, taking a step closer to Michael. He had seemed nervous at first, but now Matt was acting much more confident, and Michael was the only who was feeling uneasy about this.

"Why do you care so much?" Michael asked. "You cheated on her, didn't you? Why do you still care so much about Melissa?"

"I care about her for more reasons than you'd probably understand, Michael, and maybe one day she'll trust you enough to tell you what's going on." Matt laughed meanly, taking another few steps closer to Michael.

"She trusts me." Michael said, swallowing hard. He didn't even believe himself, though, because he knew that Melissa didn't fully trust him just yet. She told him herself.

"Oh, I'm sure she does." Matt scoffed, rolling his eyes at Michael. "I'm sure that it's just so easy for her to tell you everything about her life. I'm sure that she has no trouble at all explaining to you what's wrong, and why she acts the way she does."

"W-What are you trying to say?" Michael stammered, because he was honestly a little worried now. The way Matt was talking made it seem like there was something really wrong with Melissa, something serious. There wasn't anything serious wrong with her, was there?

"She'll tell you eventually." Matt shrugged and then turned around without saying another word, disappearing back into his little secret room.

Michael let out a big groan and was about to just sit down again and sulk for the rest of his shift, but he remembered that he needed to unpack that stupid box. So he walked over it and began to organize the CDs alphabetically (and by genre), which was always hard for Michael because he ended up getting distracted and just looking at the music instead of doing his job.

He did what he was supposed to, though, because at the moment he wasn't on very good terms with Matt anyway and he didn't want to mess this up and make things even worse. Michael had to keep this job.

After about an hour of Michael sorting through various albums and trying not to get too carried away, Melissa finally came into the store. When Michael first saw her he was happy, because Melissa was his girlfriend and, naturally, being around his girlfriend just made Michael feel happy. But then he remembered the conversation he'd had with Matt just a little while before, and his smile quickly faded.

"Hi." Michael barely looked up at Melissa from his place on the floor, where he was setting all of the different CDs into their rightful stacks so it would be easier to put them on the shelves later.

"Hi." She smiled and sat down next to Michael, picking up a CD that was laying out on the floor and staring at it for a minute before setting it down again. "I brought you food."

"Oh, thanks." Michael said quietly. He still wasn't looking directly at Melissa, but rather paying attention to the multiple CDs spread out around him.

"I texted you and asked if you wanted to go out somewhere for lunch, but you were probably too busy with this to see it." Melissa shrugged. "It's alright, though, we can just eat here."

"Alright." Michael nodded, standing up from his spot on the floor. He decided to take a little break from his organizing and go eat whatever Melissa bought for him, because it smelled good and Michael was bored and hungry.

"Are you okay?" Melissa asked slowly, standing up after Michael.

"What?" Michael asked, rubbing his eyes. He honestly felt awful, and it wasn't just because of what Matt said to him earlier. He was most likely getting sick, it would make sense since he'd spent so much time with Parker the past few days. "Yeah, I'm alright."

"Are you sure?" Melissa questioned. Michael thought that it was kind of funny, almost, that their roles had practically reversed. It was always Michael trying too hard for Melissa's attention, and now it was the other way around.

"Yeah, I just don't feel very good." Michael said, sniffing a few times to try and prove his point further. He walked back over to the front counter, where a takeout bag was waiting for him. "Matt wanted to talk to you."

"About what?" Melissa asked. She walked around the counter with Michael and grabbed the extra stool that stayed hidden under it, so she had a place to sit as well.

"I'm not sure." Michael said, opening up his food. (It was Panda Express, which was one of Michael's favorites - even though he never got to eat there because Parker didn't like it). "He just said he wanted to talk to you."

"Oh... Well I'll just call him or something later." Melissa shrugged.

"Are you sure? Maybe it was important." Michael said, his mouth full of food as he spoke.

"It's fine, it probably isn't very important anyway." She insisted, handing Michael a napkin because he was making a mess all over himself.

"He made it seem like - " Michael stopped talking and practically choked on his food as he started to cough, and when he was done he let out a big groan. Yeah, he was definitely getting sick. "He made it seem like he wanted to talk to you as soon as possible."

"Yeah, but I doubt that it's anything important." Melissa said slowly again. "Why, do you want me to go back there?"

"Well, I mean, you don't usually have a problem with it. I was just confused as to why you didn't jump up at the chance to go hang out in a small, smelly room with a great guy like Matt." Michael scoffed, wiping his mouth off with the napkin. He was in such a bad mood, all he wanted was to just go home.

"Are you okay?" Melissa asked again.

"No." Michael whined, pushing his food away from him and dropping his head into his hands, not even wanting to look at Melissa anymore.

"Is this about Matt? Did he say something?" Melissa questioned, scooting her chair closer to Michael's. He felt like he was going to cry, in public. That's how frustrated he was with everything at the moment.

"Yes." Michael said, his words slightly muffled by his hands. He looked up at Melissa again, wiping at his already watery eyes. "I just don't understand why you can't tell me certain things. I feel like you're keeping a ton of secrets from me, and I don't like that. I'm your boyfriend, you should tell me these things."

"I know, I should." Melissa sighed, rubbing Michael's back. "It's just really hard for me, Michael, I have a tough time trusting people."

"You trust Matt." Michael grumbled, covering his face with his hands again because he was scared that he was actually going to start crying. That'd be really embarrassing, the only person Michael ever really cried in front of was Parker.

"I don't trust Matt, actually." Melissa said, letting out a small chuckle. "I lost all trust for him when I found out that he cheated on me."

"Then why did he say that you tell him things that you'll never be able to tell me?" Michael asked, biting his bottom lip to try and calm himself down. He did not want to start crying, not here. He was always such a baby about everything, and he just really needed to not be one today.

"I don't... Not exactly." Melissa said slowly, thinking carefully about what she was saying. "I've just known him for a long time, and before we broke up I did trust him a lot and I told him everything. I just - I can't explain it all to you now."

"Are you ever going to be able to explain it all to me?" Michael groaned. What Melissa had said really didn't make him feel any better, if anything he felt worse.

"Eventually, of course." Melissa nodded. "Michael, I'm really sorry about this, I feel bad - "

"Don't feel bad, it's okay." Michael sighed, rubbing his eyes again. They were watering like crazy, and he wasn't sure if it was because he was just overly emotional or because he apparently had a cold now.

"I'm sorry." Melissa said quietly, standing up again. "I'll be back in a second."

"Are you serious?" Michael almost shouted. He stood up as well, causing his stool to fall backwards and hit the floor. "We just had a huge talk about how I don't like you going back there with Matt and now you're going to go do that?"

Melissa sighed and placed her hands on Michael's shoulders, once again trying to calm Michael down. He could tell that she was annoyed with him, Michael would probably be annoyed with himself too if he was in Melissa's position. "I was going to ask Matt if you could go home for the afternoon."

"Oh." Michael said, looking down at the ground.

"So... I'll be right back." Melissa backed slowly away from Michael, like she was afraid that he was going to freak out again if she actually left.

It only took about 30 seconds for Melissa to walk to the back of the store and come back again, when she returned she immediately grabbed Michael's hand, leading him towards the front of the store again.

"Are we just going to leave my food - ?" Michael mumbled as Melissa pulled him to the front door and outside.

"Matt will clean it up." Melissa shrugged.

"But I'm still kind of hungry." Michael whined and stopped walking, suddenly wanting to go back and grab the food that Melissa had brought him.

"You're acting like a four year old." Melissa turned around and glared at Michael.

"I'm sorry." Michael whispered again.

"Come on." Melissa chuckled and started walking again, dragging Michael behind her.

They were back at Michael's apartment shortly after and he headed straight to his bedroom, not even bothering to ask Melissa to follow him. She did, anyway, and sat at the edge of Michael's bed while he groaned and buried his face in a pillow.

Michael didn't say anything, he just laid there and waited for Melissa to say something instead. Only he didn't really know what he wanted her to say, so he had no idea what he was actually waiting for. After thinking for a few minutes he decided that he didn't even want Melissa to say anything, he just wanted her to be there.

"Are you okay?" Melissa asked again after a little while, breaking the silence between them.

"No." Michael groaned into his pillow, "I feel sick and I'm tired and I just don't know what to do."

"I know, and I'm really sorry, Michael." Melissa said, moving closer to where Michael was laying on the bed. "Do you want me to get you anything?"

"No, I'll be alright." Michael sighed again, taking the pillow off of his face and dropping it on the floor next to his bed.

"You know, I don't purposely try to make you upset by talking to Matt like that." Melissa said softly, reaching out for Michael's hand and lacing their fingers together.

"I know." Michael mumbled, his eyes trained on his and Melissa's intertwined hands.

"He's one of the only friends that I have besides you, and sometimes it's nice to just talk to him." Melissa explained, "He's a good listener, despite what you might think."

"I just don't understand sometimes." Michael said softly, coughing into his sleeve again. "I mean, I know that I'm close with Beth and everything and it's okay that you're close with your ex too, but it seems a little weird. Didn't Matt cheat on you?"

Michael didn't want to be annoying and pry too much, but he needed some answers. He liked Melissa a lot and he knew that she liked him too, but he couldn't do this for much longer. Michael didn't want them to keep secrets from each other, and he thought that the two of them were trying to work on that. Didn't Melissa just come crying to Michael because of how bad she felt about not telling him things?

"He did cheat on me, it's just different. We dated for a long time but it hardly even meant anything to me. It was like we were just friends." Melissa said, giving Michael's hand a small squeeze.

He still wasn't sure if he believed her, as much as he hated to say it, because he wanted to trust Melissa just like she wanted to trust him. But from the way that Matt talked about his "relationship" with Melissa it seemed like they weren't just friends.

"Okay." Michael nodded slowly. He didn't really want to talk about this anymore, he was too tired to argue.

"I'm sorry." Melissa said for what seemed like the millionth time that day, and Michael let out a small groan.

"I know." Michael said, nodding again. He knew that Melissa was sorry, he just wanted to know when she was going to show it. She'd (both of them had, actually) said sorry so many times but nothing ever changed.

"I have a lot of shit going on in my life, and I know that you're my boyfriend and that you want to help me but it's just... difficult. I'm sorry."

"I know, I overreacted." Michael said quietly, laying down again and leaning on Melissa's arm. (It was probably pretty uncomfortable for her but Michael was too miserable to care).

"No you didn't." Melissa sighed, "If the roles were reversed I bet I would have acted the same way."

"Maybe." Michael mumbled. "I just - I don't know what to do."

"What do you mean?" Melissa asked.

"I mean... I don't know, Mel." Michael paused, trying to think about what he wanted to say. "We haven't even been dating for that long and things are already really complicated."

"Well, we both knew that this wasn't going to be easy." Melissa said quickly, like she wanted to get those words out before Michael started talking again.

"I know, I knew that this wasn't going to be easy but I didn't think that it was going to be this hard." Michael said, sitting up more so he could look at Melissa.

"I didn't think I was going to fuck this up so much." Melissa said, letting out a sigh.

"Stop saying that you're the one fucking this up." Michael whispered. He put his head down in his hands, wishing that this conversation would just end already.

"I just don't know what to do." Melissa spoke quietly.

"I don't know either." Michael reached out and grabbed Melissa, pulling her closer to him so he was snuggled up against her. "I want to try."

"What?" Melissa asked, as if she didn't understand.

"I want to try and work through this." Michael explained. "I don't want us to give up."

"Really?" Melissa questioned.

"Yeah, I think that we can try and work this out, at least for a while." Michael mumbled, growing more and more tired by the second. All Michael really wanted to do was sleep. "I'm tired, we can talk about all of this later."

"Okay." Melissa nodded, laughing a little at the way Michael was cuddling up to her.

"Goodnight." Michael mumbled, too tired to realize that it wasn't even nighttime yet.

"Goodnight, Michael." Melissa chuckled before silencing herself and letting Michael fall asleep.

*•*•*

When Michael woke up a few hours later he immediately panicked, because he knew already that he was late to pick up Parker. He was really late. Like, it was dark outside.

But Michael was surprised when he rolled over and saw Parker sitting up on the bed next to him. Katie was there too, sitting quietly next to Parker, both of them staring at Michael.

"Daddy's awake!" Parker said softly, nudging Katie in the side with his elbow.

"Hi, buddy." Michael said, rubbing his eyes. He didn't feel much better, but he wasn't as tired as he had been.

"Hi Daddy." Parker smiled and crawled across the bed, stopping when he was next to Michael.

"What's up?" Michael asked, still a little confused as to how Parker got back home in the first place.

"Nothing, me and Kitty were just waiting for you to wake up from your nap." Parker giggled, and so did Katie. "Melly picked me up from school."

"Oh, did she?" Michael asked, taking a look around the room. He hadn't realized that Melissa wasn't even there anymore.

"Uh huh." Parker nodded. "She says you're sick. Are you sick, Daddy?"

"A little." Michael said, noticing for the first time since he woke up that his throat hurt like a bitch. "I'll be fine."

"Melly's making us mac n' cheese." Parker giggled again and crawled away from Michael this time, going to the edge of the bed. He hopped down and started to walk out of the room. "I'll go get some for you."

Katie got up and followed Parker out of the room, not wanting to be alone with Michael for more than a few seconds. Michael sighed and rolled out of bed as well, going after the kids.

He slowly made his way into the kitchen, where Melissa was handing bowls of mac n' cheese to Katie and Parker. She looked up at Michael as he walked in the room and laughed.

"Your hair looks great." She chuckled.

"Shut up." Michael groaned. He knew that his hair was probably sticking up in all different directions, it always did that after he woke up.

Melissa pouted jokingly and brought her hands up to Michael's head, smoothing out his hair so it no longer looked like a mess. "Did you sleep well?"

"Like a baby." Michael nodded.

"Do you want something to eat?" Melissa asked. "Parker made me make him mac n' cheese, there's still some left."

"No, I'm not hungry." Michael said, shaking his head. That was probably what he hated most about when he got sick, he lost his appetite.

"Okay, just tell me if you want anything." Melissa said and grabbed his hand, leading him into the living room where Parker and Katie had run off to.

Michael let out a big sigh as he trailed after Melissa, knowing that she was only acting this way because of what happened between them earlier.

"God, I feel awful." Michael groaned as he took a seat on the couch, pulling Melissa down with him.

"Take some medicine or something soon, you probably caught what Parker had." Melissa suggested. Michael nodded, not wanting to get up from the couch and go find some medicine for himself.

"Daddy, Mario Kart isn't working." Parker whined, walking over to Michael and tossing the controller at him.

"Ow." Michael mumbled as the controller hit his lap and picked it up, handing it back to Parker. "I don't know why it's not working, dude."

"Did you unplug it again?" Parker asked, letting out a small groan.

"Why would I unplug it?" Michael whined back at Parker, not understanding why Parker was blaming him for this. Michael was sleeping all afternoon, when would he have had time to unplug the video game system?

"You did!" Parker said, stomping his foot on the ground.

"I didn't unplug anything, Park, just leave me alone." Michael groaned and flopped over, grabbing a pillow and covering his face with it.

"You unplugged it 'cuz you got mad when I hid the controller!" Parker continued, the slight pain in Michael's head growing into an even bigger headache.

"I did not!" Michael yelled and jumped up from the couch again, throwing his pillow across the room. He wasn't feeling well and in a bad mood, and he thought that Parker would know better than to try to start an argument over something as stupid as Mario Kart.

Michael quickly made his way out of the living room and into the kitchen while Melissa also got up and kindly helped Parker with whatever was wrong with the stupid video game. Michael paced back and forth in front of the kitchen counter, mindlessly muttering things to himself that even he couldn't understand. He was so frustrated, he didn't even know what to do with himself.

After a few minutes of Michael pacing around and babbling about God knows what Melissa came back into the kitchen and walked over to Michael, once again trying to calm him down.

"Michael." She said, trying to reach out and grab him so he would stop moving. "Michael, please."

"Just leave me alone." Michael mumbled, trying to turn away from Melissa. She grabbed him by the shoulders and eventually Michael began to breath normally again.

"Sit down." Melissa ordered quietly and Michael obeyed her, slowly lowering himself down to the floor and sitting with his legs pulled up to his chest. Melissa sat on the floor next to him, waiting for Michael to calm himself down more.

"I'm just having a really bad day, Mel." Michael said after a minute. He was trying to hold himself together and not just burst into tears right there (that would be pretty embarrassing) but it was hard to do so. He was so fed up with everything, he wasn't sure if he could just bottle it all up.

"I know." Melissa said soothingly, rubbing Michael's back. "It's okay, everyone has bad days."

"I'm just so done with everything." Michael went on, a few tears slipping from his eyes and onto his cheeks. "I'm not feeling well and I'm tired. I hate my job and I hardly get along with my own girlfriend half the time and then I come home and get bullied by my son because I apparently unplugged a damn video game system. I just want to go to sleep and never want to wake up."

"Michael - "

"It's hard, okay? It's so hard for me to try to do all of this on my own and I'm fucking sick of things not turning out my way. It sounds selfish, but I don't care. I just wish that for once things would go the way I wanted." Michael wiped at his eyes, but it was no use. He was already crying and he couldn't stop himself. "It just sucks. I made one mistake and now my life is stuck like this."

"Do you really feel that way? Do you think Parker's a mistake?" Melissa questioned.

"I hate doing this, I really do, but sometimes I honestly can't help but think that my life would be so much better now if I hadn't been so careless." Michael cried, trying to keep his voice down. "I was a stupid teenager and I messed up once and now I'm stuck with - "

Michael stopped himself mid sentence, suddenly becoming overwhelmed and extremely upset with himself for what he was just about to say.

Parker was the best thing that's ever happened to Michael, at least that's what he always told himself, and here he was calling his son a mistake. He couldn't believe that he'd just said something so awful, and that only made Michael cry harder.

"Oh my God, I'm such a horrible person." Michael sobbed into his hands, trying to curl himself into a ball and hide from Melissa as much as he could. He was so embarrassed that she'd heard him say that, and he was never going to be able to forget it.

"You're not a horrible person, Michael." Melissa said softly, continuing to rub Michael's back. "I know you didn't mean that, it's okay."

"I didn't mean it, I didn't mean it." Michael repeated, feeling even worse than before. "God, I'm so pathetic."

"You're not pathetic." Melissa reminded him. Michael didn't feel any better, and he just kept crying into his hands, refusing to look up at her.

"I love Parker, I didn't mean what I said." Michael continued sobbing, even though he didn't think that he would ever be able to forgive himself for doing that. It wasn't even a big deal, exactly, but just the fact that Michael had even thought about Parker being a mistake him his life made him upset.

"Michael, why don't you go back to sleep. You're tired, you'll feel better after you get some rest." Melissa said, probably just because she didn't want to deal with Michael anymore.

"I can't go to sleep." Michael groaned, finally uncovering his face again and wiping under his eyes. "I have to hang out with Parker and then give him a bath and make sure he's in his Spiderman pajamas and read to him and then wait for him to fall asleep."

"I can do all of that." Melissa insisted. "Please, Michael, you'll feel so much better."

"I can't - "

"Michael. Come on." Melissa cut him off, not taking no for an answer. She helped him off of the floor and began to lead him down the hall, to his bedroom.

Michael got himself ready for bed and then said goodnight and thank you to Melissa, who went back out into the living room to hang out with Parker and Katie for a while before it was time for them to go to sleep as well. Michael crawled into bed and went to sleep, but he still didn't feel any better.

A while later he was woken up again by someone crawling in bed next to him, and he sleepily rolled over to see Parker wiggling himself under the covers with Michael.

"Hi bud." Michael whispered, barely able to keep his eyes open.

"Hi Daddy." Parker said, grabbing Michael's arm and hugging it to him, like he normally did. "Melly said you were feeling sad again, so I came to make you feel happy."

"Thanks, Park." Michael said, smiling to himself.

"Why are you sad?" Parker questioned. Michael should have known that Parker wouldn't just let Michael being in a bad mood go by unnoticed.

"I'm just having a bad day, Pac-Man." Michael sighed.

"That's not good." Parker whispered, giggling and squeezing Michael's arm again.

"No it's not." Michael whispered back, shaking his head. "I'll be alright in the morning."

"Okay. I love you Daddy, goodnight." Parker mumbled and shortly after he was asleep as well. Letting out another sigh, Michael leaned over and kissed Parker on the top of the head, finally feeling okay again.

-

michael had a bad day because tbh I was having a bad day while writing most of this too