Luke ended up falling asleep in Calum's bed with his brother's arms wrapped around him. He actually didn't have a nightmare for once.
Michael didn't get any sleep. He wanted to call Ashton and apologize to him and bring him back. Bring back the spine of their family. They need Ashton. Michael needs Ashton. It's only Wednesday. He won't be getting a call from Ashton until Friday. Michael checked his phone a lot just in case.
Calum never realized how stressful being a parent was. He didn't even know how he could spank Luke like he did earlier. The blonde didn't seem upset with him though. Which was a huge relief for Calum. Surprisingly, Calum didn't miss Ashton at all. He wouldn't mind if he stayed with his parents forever and he took over as the father of the family. He could learn to do everything Ashton did. He could protect Michael and Luke.
Luke stirred awake in Calum's arms and snuck out of bed to the kitchen. He caught Michael making breakfast.
"Hi daddy," Luke said as he rubbed his eye.
"Hi, Lukey. How are you doing?"
Luke shrugged, "okay. Are we going to school today?"
"Yes!" Michael chuckled, "why wouldn't you?" He flipped a pancake and turned to Luke who shrugged again.
"I don't know."
***
"I can come over!?" Niall gasped happily and hugged Luke. The blonde giggled at Niall's reaction.
"Yes, you can. Some stuff happened yesterday. Um, Ashton kind of left..."
"Oh, Lukey!" Niall hugged the fragile boy. He noticed how thin and sickly he looked. Niall would cook for him and help him get better. He hoped to make him feel better in general.
"I think he might come back though. He has to right?" Niall just kept hugging his boyfriend without giving an answer, he didn't think as optimistically on the topic as Luke.
***
Michael sat quietly on the couch as another Spanish soap opera came on. Some popcorn had fallen onto the floor from Michael's bowl. He curled further under his soft blanket that Ashton gave him a while ago. The boys were still at school for a few more hours.
Suddenly there was a knocking at the door. Michael popped up immediately and threw the door open. Luckily, Ashton was on the other side of the door and caught him before he fell onto the cement.
"Hi," Ashton chuckled.
"Hi," Michael replied breathlessly.
"I just came to pick up some stuff... And uh, you're getting heavy..."
"Oh, sorry!" Michael brushed himself off as he got off of Ashton.
The older of the two helped himself to their bedroom and packed up a suitcase.
Michael watched from the door way. He wanted to fling the object from Ashton's hands, but that wouldn't look good. Calum would hate him if he let Ashton stay.
"We're just on a break, right?" Ashton looked up at Michael, forcing a smile.
"Yeah... Babe, just a break... for now,"
Michael clambered onto the bed.
"I-I'm not mad anymore. If you want to, you could stay?"
Ashton looked at his pouted face and sighed. "You kicked me out. Obviously you don't need me."
"Yes I do-" Michael trailed off.
"You kicked me out! Don't make me wanna stay here, Michael!" Ashton yelled and turned away from Michael with his suitcase in hand.
"The boys will forgive you! I have forgiven you! Calum isn't mad!" Michael said fearfully for Ashton's answer.
Before Michael knew what was happening, Ashton wiped his cheek. Tears were falling from his eyes. "Babe-" Ashton sighed. Michael clutched his arm tightly, as if it would make him stay.
Everything in him told him to leave, but Ashton pushed those feelings aside and just held Michael in his arms. "It's okay. It's going to be alright."
***
Calum picked Luke and Niall up after school and walked home with then. The blonde was quiet while Niall went on about his day and started making jokes that neither of the brothers understood.
Niall wished he could cheer Luke up. He grabbed the younger boy's hand as they walked. Luke rolled his eyes and smiled at the Irish lad.
Once at the house, Calum let them in and rushed to his room to do homework,
Luke saw Ashton out of the corner of his eye. He ran into his parents room and hugged the man tightly.
"Dad! You're back?"
Ashton frowned, "I can't stay."
"Why not?" Luke pouted, "it's weird without you. Calum spanked me yesterday and Daddy didn't come out of his room last night and I need help with my biology homework."
"Please," Michael added.
Ashton sighed, "one more night. Let's see how things go tonight."
Niall hugged Luke who was jumping around happily. Ashton chuckled at the two boys. Now he would have to find a way to make it up to Calum.
The kiwi boy was in his room doing homework when Ashton knocked on his door. Calum looked up, not giving away any sign of happiness or anger.
"Can we talk?" Ashton asked.
"About?"
"Just a lot of stuff. I heard you spanked Luke."
"Um yeah. He wasn't eating..." Calum muttered.
"I would have done the same thing, probably harder, but I'm glad you took the iniative to take care of everyone while I was gone. I know it was only a night, but that's still amazing."
"Are you staying?" Calum interrupted.
"For the night, yeah,"
"Well, I wouldn't mind if you stayed... I don't want to take care of everyone. And daddy needs you. I need you too... So does Luke... Why did you hit him? Why did you cheat?"
"I was... stupid, I was just being stupid, Calum. I'm done being stupid though. I'm going to take care of my boys," all of them."
Calum surprised Ashton by hugging him tightly. Ashton held his oldest son who was usually reserved or claimed he didn't like cuddles. He needed to be a kid and he needed both his dads as hard as it was for him to admit.
A/N: I'm not in love with this chapter.
