A Letter Before I Go ; malum

6

i have a malum fic called motherboard. computernerd!mikey anyone?

It was another night on the bus, and Calum was paranoid, knowing that the journalist was sleeping where they watched TV. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched – judged for everything he did. He got out of his bed and went to the kitchen.

Sleepless nights weren't hard to come by, but when he was already exhausted from the days before, it was even worse. Barely any of their fans understood that. So, when he was snappy, and didn't tak to them sometimes, it was just because he was tired, and he sucked at talking to people.

He boiled the kettle, wiping his eyes. As soon as it reached it boiling point, he heard footsteps. He looked over and saw that it was Michael. The purple-haired boy slung his arms over Calum's shoulders, so his hands were lightly on his chest. It was an awkward position, but neither cared.

"You should really invest in some pills for your sleep."

"Sleeping pills, maybe?" Calum raised an eyebrow, chuckling at his best friend.

"Yeah, them." He mumbled, his lips against the back of Calum's neck.

The Maori made his tea and walked them over to the lounge. He sat down, which caused the pale boy to lay on him. He rubbed his olive-skinned hand on the sleepy boy's back and tried not to spill his tea on him.

"Why don't you go to bed?"

"You need me to be up. You'll come cuddle me anyway."

Calum let a smile creep up on his face. "True." He sipped his tea, leaning over to put it on the coffee table.

"You gonna write more of your song?" Michael asked, closing his eyes. Calum knew he was probably going to fall asleep on him.

"Maybe not. It's kinda sad."

"Oh," he frowned, "okay."

After a few minutes, Michael was asleep and Calum drunk his tea in silence. He could hear the engine humming quietly, and Michael snoring below him. He smiled and put his head back on the lounge, closing his eyes.

In the morning, Ashton and Luke were making drinks, and the journalist sat in a chair opposite to where the two asleep boys were with a suspicious look on his face. Ashton noticed, and shook his head.

"They're not like that." He said. "I mean, we cuddle sometimes when we need it. It's so stupid that we aren't supposed to do it, 'cause we're boys, but anyone who tells us that can fuck off."

Arthur nodded and wrote it down, using quotation marks in Notes on his phone. Ashton walked over and shook Calum's shoulder, only for him to furrow his eyebrows and swat his hands away. He opened one eye slightly, seeing Ashton's face and his bare chest.

"How long until we have to go?"

"Um, like an hour or two."

"Then why are you waking me up?"

"Because you need to get ready." Ashton said patiently, knowing none of them were morning people.

Calum got up, waking Michael in the process. They lazily fought over who would get to go to the toilet first, but Calum was quick to push Michael out of the way before locking the toilet door. Michael grumbled something under his breath, walking over to his pills that were laid out in the corner for him.

Arthur watched curiously, and Michael tried to scare him off with a glare, but to no avail. The pale boy was nervous. He hoped he didn't write about the pills. If he didn't look at what they were prescribed for, he would only assume.