Beating scars, Relapse hearts [Malum af]

Chapter 12: it kind of made Michael forget how to breathe

WARNING: Could be triggering. It was my 18th yesterday and I'm having a party tomorrow which is why I'm updating a day early.
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When Michael finally resurfaced from wonderland the first thing he noticed was that he was all alone, the second was that it was incredibly hot and stuffy, and the third was that his arse burned like he'd just deposited a bunch of extra spicy food. He rolled onto his back and sighed, he could remember exactly what had happened the previous night and he didn't know whether it was a good or bad thing. He was disappointed that Calum wasn't by his side when he woke up seeing as he is his best friend. He figured that Calum must have remembered what happened last night too.

He dragged himself to his feet and tossed on a random band shirt and pair of skinny jeans, which he presumed were Luke's because the legs were awfully long. He rolled them up to his ankles and put on his boots before he stepped out of the tent. It was morning and the sun was hurting his head slightly. When he started walking over to the stage area he had to hold his hand up to shield his eyes so that he wouldn't step on anyone.

He was able to spot Luke straight away, standing in the middle of a crowd and spinning around with his arms stretched out at his sides again. Michael shook his head before jogging over to him. "Michael!" Luke shouted, holding his arms out for Michael to run into when he spotted him.
"You're such a dork," Michael chuckled, gripping onto Luke's shoulders so that he was forced to face him, "Where's Calum?" He asked and started to regret it when he saw Luke's smile instantly drop.
"He's over there with Ashton," Luke said, motioning near the front of the crowd with his hand.
"Okay, thanks," Michael said, "Is everything okay, Luke?"
"What? Yeah, everything's great. I mean, this is amazing!" Luke said, regaining his grin.
"Okay, I'm going to find Calum, are you going to be alright here?" Michael asked, finally releasing his grip on Luke's shoulders. Luke just nodded and turned to a guy rolling up a spliff, which Michael knew would be dangling from Luke's lips in a few seconds.

There must have been at least a thousand people Michael ended up elbowing when he was trying to make his way nearer the front of the crowd, he didn't even bother apologising as they complained and shouted profanities at him. He wished that Luke was the one at the front because it'd be easy to spot his blonde quiff sticking up from the crowd any day. When he finally stumbled upon them he could tell that they were in a deep conversation about something. Usually, he'd turn away and let them talk, but he didn't just navigate a gigantic crowd for nothing. "Guys!" He shouted and Calum automatically looked over at him, he smiled and beckoned Michael over.

"Metallica are on soon," Calum said, grabbing Michael's wrist when he got closer and shoving him in between himself and Ashton.
"Hi," Ashton smiled, slinging an arm around Michael's shoulders and kissing his temple. Michael just smiled up at him and turned towards Calum just in time to see him roll his eyes.
"What's wrong?" Michael asked, leaning his head closer to Calum's as the crowd was getting louder at the anticipation that the band would be about to start as the crew members had now finished setting everything up and fled the stage. There was a plain black backdrop hung at the back of the stage now with the Metallica logo painted on in white paint.
"It's nothing," Calum mumbled as the opening notes of My Friend of Misery started playing. If Michael wanted to question Calum and further he wouldn't have been able to hear his own voice in his head let alone Calum's, so he reached down and grabbed his hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze, before watching James Hetfield running on the stage.

The crowd went mindbogglingly wild and started jumping and thrashing around. Michael gripped onto Calum's hand harder when he tried to pull away and wished that Ashton would remove his fucking arm from his shoulder so that he could join in but he didn't. He smiled down at Michael and it kind of made Michael forget how to breathe for a moment. If he'd learnt one thing from today it was that Ashton looks bloody hot in a fedora.

When the set was over the majority of the crowd dispersed. Michael had no choice but to follow Ashton because his arm was still around his fucking shoulders and he was using the power from it to guide him over to Jack and Alex, and Michael refused to let go of Calum's hand so he was being dragged behind the pair grumbling about how he's a third wheel. Ashton only laughed at that and said, "You didn't mind last night," which made both Michael's and Calum's cheeks heat up and Ashton erupt in laughter again when he looked over at the two of them with faces as red as tomatoes.

"Wanna hit?" Was the first thing that Jack asked when the three boys approached them.
Michael reached out to take the spliff but was cut off by Calum's hand and his utterance of "Absolutely."
"Rough night?" Jack asked when Calum plonked himself next to him on their blanket.
"Something like that," He muttered, holding the spliff out to Michael who happily took it.
"Why is there such a huge obsession with smoking drugs?" Alex asked, "It's so much easier and fun to just take pills," He said, emptying the remaining contents from his once full bag directly into his mouth.
"The way it makes your lungs feel hot and heavier than your heart," Michael shrugged.
"Alright Allen fucking Ginsberg," Calum laughed, snatching the spliff back and taking a long inhale.
"Fuck off Cal, that's the only poet you know," Michael huffed, glaring at the boy and wedging his way beneath Ashton's arm.

Calum narrowed his eyes at the pair of them. Ashton had moved an arm around Michael's waist and was talking to him about something. He didn't even care what it was about, all he cared was that he'd managed to get Michael to show off this big fucking smile on his face and all because Ashton shoved his dick up Michael's arse. "Where's Luke?" He asked when the spliff had met its end.
"He went off somewhere with the camera," Michael said as he held his hand out for it before Calum had the chance to stump it out and without thinking twice about it, he handed it over. He watched as Michael rolled his sleeve up slightly to the point where he could just see the pigments of damaged tissue from where Michael had burned himself before. The small pink blotches stood out on his porcelain skin. He didn't even react when Michael quickly glanced up at Ashton to make sure he wasn't looking and pressed the bud to his skin.

His face curled in on itself and his arm was being yanked away a second later. Michael whimpered at the lack of heat. He watched Ashton's hand snatch the bud from his own and throw it to the ground before pulling him close to his torso. Michael hissed when the thumb of Ashton's hand accidentally brushed over the blistering burn. Alex and Jack were just staring at Michael, and Calum was wondering whether he should have just pretended to be asleep last night.

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Mikey :((