colorblind (cth)

luke

May 16, 2016

John had been to 31 shows of the Sounds Live Feels Live tour, all 69 shows of the Rock Out With Your Socks Out tour, and countless other promo shows in between tours in the past two years alone. He'd heard the same songs, the same jokes, the same teasing insults; seen the same flashing lights, the same graphics, the same show more times than he could count. He'd watched all four boys make fools of themselves almost everyday for years now. John loved his job, but after seeing the same concert night after night for so long, he wasn't as entertained by their antics as he used to be.

That is, until the 32nd show of the Sounds Live Feels Live tour.

John watched in complete fascination as Calum practically lost his shit on stage. As both their tour manager and front man, John was one of the first to hear the news.

"Calum got his colors and he can't stop staring at everything. Yeah. It's a thing."

Luke's voice had been a mixture of irritation and pride as he'd called John from the tour bus. John could hear Calum yelling in the background throughout the call ("what the fuck kind of color is this?" "Michael I just googled all of your past hair styles, it looks great buddy" "stop staring at her, you'll scare her!").

"Wait, her?"

"Yeah John, that's how it works. Remember? You see your soulmate, you get your colors."

"So it's actually true?"

"Yep. I'm literally witnessing it right now. It's making me sick."

Now several hours later, it was clear to John that Calum was almost painfully affected by the new addition of color to his life. Maybe throwing him into a multicolored light show just hours after finding his soulmate wasn't such a good idea.

Calum stumbled through the show. He didn't miss a single note, vocally or on the bass guitar, but whenever it was his turn to speak to the crowd he lost his train of thought, or got distracted by the changing lights, or stuttered his way through his sentences. When there wasn't music to be lost in, Calum was lost in the world around him. John could tell that he was overwhelmed from his place in the soundbooth, he didn't want to think about what the fans in the front row were thinking.

(Later that night theories would surface online surrounding Calum's unusual behavior. Most fans attributed it to sickness, some to drunkenness, and others insisted that not just Calum, but all the boys were overworked. Dozens of theories would be suggested, but none of them would manage to pinpoint the actual cause of Calum's distress.)

John made his way backstage sometime during the encore. He was waiting in the dressing room next to catering when the boys burst in, covered in sweat and high on adrenaline. John let Ashton, Michael, and Luke grab their beers and collapse onto the couches before walking over to Calum and patting him on the back.

"You okay?"

Calum shot him a weak smile, running a hand through his hair as he spoke, "Yeah, I'm okay. Just a little overwhelmed."

"You look like it."

"Yeah well." Calum didn't say anything else, just sighed and moved to sit with the other boys. John let him go. He knew Calum must be feeling a lot of different things at the moment. He just left the room, sending a text to Cal as he walked down the hallway towards where the rest of the crew was cleaning up.

I'm here to talk if you need it kid.

A few minutes later as he was watching the crew pack away monitors he got a text back.

Thanks John.

John pocketed his phone and went back to watching the crew, chatting with a couple of the guys. He pushed Calum's situation to the back of his mind, they had another show tomorrow to worry about. Calum's colors could wait.