"It's Not Love If It Hurts" //5sos

/66/

Dedicated to @thelittlekachu

"Of course you're not wearing pants. Of course. Cause it wasn't enough to just be shirtless, so now you have to bare it all and how are my overlies supposed to manage."

Calum looked at Annie, smiling cutely and snapping the band of his underwear, as if saying I'm not baring it all.

Annie grinned walking up to him and leaning against the kitchen counter. "You're such a cliche."

He winked, moving closer to her and typing something into his phone. "So how do people like us?" The automated voice said.

Annie sighed. "Johanna didn't think it through enough. She's been super overworked lately, it isn't healthy. But we're getting about the reaction we expected. People love you and love us and love me but also hate my existence because it makes it all the more difficult for them to get in your pants."

Calum smiled sadly, "I have something I need to tell you," he wrote out on his phone.

"Yeah?"

He coughed, puffing his chest up nervously. "I- love you." He choked out, his speech garbled. It was barely a whisper, and Annie may have had trouble making it out if she didn't know his voice so well. But regardless- he was able to say something! His voice had returned, if only in the smallest fraction of what it used to be. He'd be able to get better, be able to talk normally again, maybe even be able to sing!

There was no need for words as Annie grabbed Calum and pulled him in for a kiss. He reacted immediately, pushing her against the counter, rocking his hips roughly against hers.

He was going to get better. He was going to get better.

****************************

"You're never going to get better," Mikey mocked. "Seriously, you've lived with us for years and you still suck at fifa."

Ashton rolled his eyes. "I actually can't play this game. My eyes can't handle it."

Mikey missed a goal, and turned off the tv, giving up. "You're eyes can handle bright lights flashing at them for hours every night for a year."

"They put me in the back for a reason."

  Michael brushed off his comment, opening his phone. "I haven't checked my phone in days. I'm probably going to open Twitter, and find out they landed on Mars or something."

Laughing, Ashton took out his phone too. "They're going to tell us the other side of the world blew up, or the sun will be crashing into the earth and we'll be too late getting to our bunkers."

"Nah, Johanna would have told us."

And in some strange, cosmic event, Ashton and Mikey both opened Twitter at the same time. At the same time, they saw the video, and at the same time their eyes widened. "Mikey-" Ashton started.

"Johanna posted a video. A video with Annie. And Calum. Yesterday."

"Come on, we have to get to their house!"

And rushing to the car, neither bothered to consider that maybe Michael wouldn't be accepted graciously into Calum and Annie's home. They watched the video in the car as they drove over, still in shock. And when they got to the house, they tried the door, only to find it locked. Without giving them any heads up, they slammed on the door, needing to talk to them. Michael was looking around, and that was when it occurred to Ashton that he'd never been there before.

Just as Ashton realized what a horrible idea it was, the door swung open.

************************

Calum and Annie were getting more and more comfortable. They were kissing, shirts and pants already discarded on the floor, when it seemed as though someone slammed their entire body weight on the door.

Annie jumped, pulling away from Calum. The knocking continued. "What the fudk!" She hissed. "Did you invite them over?"

Calum shook his head, his hands placed on Annie's hips protectively, when he realized he had to do something. He and his girlfriend were in their underwear as someone pounded on the door. Making a split second decision, he let go of her, grabbing their clothes and shoving them into her hands. He pushed her into the hallway, and she rushed into her room to get dressed. Grabbing his phone, Calum jogged to the door, well aware that he was in just his underwear. He probably looked pretty questionable- half-naked, hair messed up and lips slightly swollen from the kissing, but he went and turned the doorknob anyways.

The door was immediately shoved open, a surprised Mikey rushing in. "You didn't tell us you were going to tell everyone! Twitter is exploding! And you posted it yesterday, how come we didn't know!"

He paused, just then taking in Calum's state. "Did you just wake up, or..."

Calum turned to the doorway, where Ashton stood looking like a deer in headlights. Everyone was wide-eyed, taking in the situation.

Hearing the door open in the hallway, Calum jumped, running and intercepting Annie before she saw who was there.

"Cal! Who is it?"

Shaking his head, he pushed Annie lightly back into her room. She started objecting, but seeing the look of shock on his face, stopped talking and let herself be herded back into her room.

Annie was dressed now, but Calum could not let her see that Michael was there. She had believed that he didn't know where they lived, that he couldn't get in- he hadn't told her that, of course, but it was her own denial- a defense mechanism to make herself believe that she was safe there. It donned on Calum then that Annie really wasn't safe. She wasn't safe from Mikey, and she wouldn't be as long as she hang around any of them. Michael wasn't one for self-reflection. He'd convinced himself that he'd done nothing wrong, and Calum didn't doubt that he'd try it again. He just hoped that Michael would be smart enough not to.

Annie was terrified of it happening again, and it might. The safest she'd be was away from them, including Calum. She really, really wasn't safe with him.

But Calum was selfish. He didn't want Annie to leave, to leave him. So even with his realization, he refused to let Annie go.

Pulling out his phone, Calum tried to focus on the task at hand. Ashton and Michael were here, and were upset about some video, on Twitter. "What video?" He typed, having the deep American voice from his phone read it out.

So Michael explained about the Twitter video, and how no one had told them anything about it. Calum tried to listen.

A/N: Check out the side book for this series, "It's Not Crap If You're Into It"! Fun one-shots!
Also, sorry, I've been kinda annoying with the one shots because I didn't explain the rules well enough. My main goal is just not to confuse people, so like if I made a one shot where like Calum miraculously recovered, then it'd be kinda confusing. (If anyone else wants to give a suggestion, I'm now open to suggestions for one shots from everyone, not just the five people I specified in the last chapter).