Do More Good (5sos ot4)

Chapter 20

(Ik Harry isn't in this fic but I love him and this picture)

***

They'd been having the same discussion for three days.

None of them could ever come up with a good answer for what to do with Calum.

"He can't stay in hiding for the rest of his life, it's not good for anyone."

Michael shook his head. "But we can't just let him be free, who know what he'll do? We can't let him blow our cover,"

"What if he doesn't? We can make sure he's on our side,"

Luke always argued to let him be free, hoping and trusting that Calum would do the right thing. Michael took the opposite side, saying they had to be completely sure he was with them before they let him so far as the back yard without supervision, and Ashton was someplace in between. He understood both sides. He knew they couldn't keep things like this forever, but there was a lot at stake if they were wrong with the timing.

Right now, the three were in the kitchen, having a hushed conversation while Calum watched a TV show he really liked in the den. He kept looking in at them, wondering when someone would come back and sit with him. After his meltdown the other day, he was more clingy than usual, which no one minded at all. Calum knew things would never truly be normal again, but he was hoping to acclimate to his new normal, with his three almost boyfriends.

"How will we know? Maybe he's just trying to play the long game and waiting for us to trust him,"

Luke scoffed.

"Look him in the eyes and tell me you think that cute bean is capable of being so devious." Michael rolled his eyes. "Exactly, he's not like that. He's too precious and good to play us like that,"

"So then you expect him to be able to Help us if he's so precious and good?" Michael countered, leaning on the kitchen island. "This was our issue in the beginning, he might be too good to go along with this. That's what he's been warring over this whole time, I don't know anymore,"

Ashton sighed.

"You were the one pushing so hard for this at the start, saying that he was meant to be," he accused. "Now you're saying you don't think he can be one of us?"

Michael blinked, trying to come up with something.

"That's a whole separate discussion," Luke cut in. "We're talking about what to do with him, not if we even think he can be one of us. That's something we would have needed to think about weeks ago. We're too far in this, it's all or nothing now,"

"Nothing? As in..." Michael gulped. That didn't sit well with him.

"If you guys really don't think he can be one of us, what choice do we have?" Luke shrugged. He knew neither of them would want to get rid of Calum. They were all too attached to him, they would never. They all knew it too, but Luke knew this discussion was getting ridiculous. They needed to be safe, but also needed to think about Calum's wellbeing too. "Keeping him sequestered in here isn't good for him, we need to figure out how we can let him out safely,"

"Sequestered," Michael sniggered. "What the fuck is that?"

Ashton growled, punching him hard in the arm.

"Don't make fun of Lukey," he snapped.

"Ash!" a shocked voice gasped from the doorway. "Did you just hit Mikey?"

Ashton stuttered over his words as Michael clutched his arm, writhing in pain.

"Ouch, that hurt, Ashy," he whined, smirking as Calum rushed over to him, pulling his shirt sleeve up to look at the red area.