bulletproof - calm ot4

3- let's take this mess and make a home

I think we're onto something. We can't run from fate, but we can let it take us down this road where all our colors run together. Let's take the worst and make it better, let's take this mess and make a home.

-

"It's called a polyamory," Ashton explains, and Calum's eyes widen in recognition.

"Like sister wives!" he exclaims, feeling his cheeks heat up when he sees the pale, black haired boy raising his eyebrows at him. Meanwhile, Luke looks utterly confused.

"Um, kind of," Ashton agrees. "That's a polygamy, which means multiple marriages. A polyamory means many loves."

Calum nods, processing the new information before returning his attention to Michael and Luke. The former has a grin spread across his face.

"I like this idea," Michael smirks. "I get both of you."

"I like it, too," Calum admits, surprising himself. Calum's confession makes Michael nod in approval, but it causes Luke to look up at him with confused eyes. "What?" Calum defends himself, hands up in mock surrender. "You're both hot as hell."

"So it's settled?" the no-longer-angry boy asks excitedly. "Are we a polygamy?"

"Polyamory." Ashton is quick to correct Michael, but Michael pays him no mind.

"I'm in," Calum says quickly, his excitement quite visible through his words. He turns to Luke. "Are you in, Luke?"

The blonde boy keeps his eyes trained on the ground, fumbling with the sleeve of his dark blue long sleeved t-shirt nervously. "I...um, n-not really..." The boy's pale skin turns red in embarrassment at his revelation, but he refuses to look up at the other boys.

Michael pouts, reaching over to stroke Luke's arm, but the frail boy flinches away. "Why not?"

Calum watches as Luke swallows nervously, and he thinks he might see tears brimming in the boy's eyes.

"D-Don't wanna b-be a th-third wh-wheel."

That catches Calum off guard. He assumed the reason that Luke doesn't want to be in a three-way relationship with them was because he wants Michael to himself. It hadn't even crossed the tan boy's mind that the blonde might be insecure about Michael's affection towards him in comparison to the black haired boy's affection towards Calum himself.

"You won't be a third wheel, we promise," Michael insists, making eye contact with Calum, the look in his eye a strange and unnerving combination of pleading and threatening. "Right, Calum?"

"Of course not," Calum quickly agrees, a bit afraid of going against Michael.

Luke shakes his head.

"Please, baby?" Michael coos, and for the first time, Calum doesn't feel jealous in the slightest. He doesn't just want Michael anymore. He wants Luke, too.

"Don't peer pressure him," Ashton scolds, and it makes Calum jump. The tan boy had nearly forgotten that the muscular boy was still there. "He doesn't want to do it. You don't have his consent, and it's verbal abuse if you try to persuade him into doing something he has clearly refused."

Calum glances at Luke--who is giving Ashton a grateful look--and then at Michael. Michael rolls his eyes before narrowing them at Ashton.

"Who are you, again?" Michael asks, irritation dripping from his voice and masking the underlying genuine confusion that Calum knows is there.

"I'm Ashton," the dirty blonde says, raising an eyebrow. "And you are?"

"Michael," the tall boy spits out. He then returns his attention to Luke, who is shaking slightly. "Listen, you don't have to do this but I really, really want you to--"