I'm Supposed To Hate You ||Malum AU||

Chapter 35

Calum and Michael took advantage of Joy being out of the house that evening and invited Luke, Ashton and Thomas to watch a couple of movies. The five of the were sprawled out across the living room, watching Fast and Furious. Luke was sulking in the corner because he had wanted to watch Mean Girls or Happy Feet instead but he'd been out voted 4-1. Calum was lying across the sofa, with his feet on Ashton's lap. Michael was in an armchair with the popcorn bowl that was supposed to be in the middle of the room balanced on the arm.

Thomas was stretched out across the floor, kicking his feet as he lay on his stomach.

"Thomas, I can't see the screen for your fucking feet!" Michael groaned, throwing a piece of popcorn at the back of his head.

"Move then." Thomas replied, continuing to kick his feet. Michael glared at him, throwing a handful of popcorn in his direction.

"Michael, don't throw the popcorn, mum'll go mental." Calum said sternly.

"We wouldn't want mummy to get upset would we Cal?" Michael teased, smirking as he threw popcorn at Calum.

"If I get in trouble, I'm dragging you down with me." Calum retorted, raising his eyebrow at the popcorn in Michael's hand that he was about to throw.

"I'm a guest." Michael smirked.

"That hasn't stopped her yelling at you before."

"Can you two either get a room or shut up and watch the movie, the sexual tension is killing me." Thomas interrupted, twisting round to glare at the two of them.

"Shut up Thomas." Michael muttered, throwing more popcorn at the back of his head.

"I told you not to throw anymore popcorn."

"What are you going do Hood?"

"Do you want another black eye? That one has almost faded." Calum growled but Michael just smirked and stuffed a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

"That was supposed to be for all of us." Ashton grumbled from next to Calum. "And you've eaten 3/4 of that bowl yourself."

"No, he's only eaten half of it. He threw the rest on the floor."

"You guys voted against me to watch this film and your not even paying attention." Luke said sulkily from the corner.

"Stop being so butt hurt Luke. It's just a movie." Michael told him. "Hanging out as a group is the most important thing."

"Michael is right." Thomas agreed. "We've never hung out in a group outside school because Calum and Michael couldn't stand the sight of each other."

"I never said it was the sight of him that I didn't like." Michael corrected. "He's quite nice to look at, but that's ruined as soon as he opens his mouth."

"I'll take that as compliment, it's the best I'm going to get from you." Calum replied, making the rest of them laugh.

"I could give you so much better." Michael added, winking at Calum.

"Okay, that's enough." Ashton exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. "Leave that for when we're not here."

"Ha ha ha." Calum responded sarcastically, smacking his best friend across the top of the head.

"Don't act like you don't want it."

Calum grabbed a cushion from next to him and threw it at Michael, hitting him square in the face.

"You could cut the sexual tension in this room with a knife." Thomas muttered to himself, turning his attention back to the screen.
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"You better pick up that popcorn you threw Michael." Calum demanded as soon as the others had left.

"Why can't you do it?" Michael yawned. "I'm too tired."

"I didn't throw it at the back of Thomas' head did I?"

"I threw it at Luke too, to stop him from sulking." Michael added.

"Exactly, so you should pick it up."

"It's a little bit of popcorn Calum."

"It's about half the bowl Michael." Calum argued, indicating towards the scattering of popcorn across the room.

"You're being a drama queen Cal." Michael stated, rolling his eyes at him.

"I wear my crown proudly." Calum retorted sarcastically. "You still need to clean up the popcorn."

"Make me."

Calum glared at him, with one eyebrow raised. Michael stood his ground, raising his eyebrow to imitate Calum.

"You're just asking for a punch, you are." Calum said. "If you don't clean it up, you can explain to mum why it's all over her living room in the first place."

"Joy loves me, it's cool." Michael shrugged.

"You're unbelievabl-"

"-ly handsome. Yes I know, thank you Calum." Michael smirked and walked out of the room, leaving Calum biting the inside of his cheek angrily.

"I really hate you sometimes Michael!" He shouted after him.

"Glad to hear it!" Michael shouted back.
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Joy came home at midnight and stepped on popcorn as soon as she walked into the living room. She switched the light on to see popcorn thrown across her entire living room and she cursed Calum and Michael under her breath. The popcorn she had stood on was now ingrained into her carpet.

She marched upstairs, hoping one of the boys were still awake to explain the mess but when she entered their room, she found them cuddled up next each other in Calum's bed, sleeping contently.  She was taken aback and surprised to find them like that. She'd got used to them being at each others throats that seeing them so peaceful made her uneasy.

She wanted to separate them but looking at the small smile on Calum's face stopped her from doing so. Every other time she had checked on Calum while he was sleeping, he'd had a very strained expression on his face. She knew it was because of his dad. And if cuddling Michael was helping him get a good peaceful nights sleep, then she wasn't going to be the one to ruin that.

Smiling to herself, she left the room again and shuffled into hers, yawning. It had been a long day and she was exhausted. She climbed into bed and closed her eyes, without changing into her pyjamas and closed her eyes, drifting into a dreamless sleep for the first time in years.

Looks like Calum's not the only one who has nightmares.

I couldn't find any pictures relevant to the chapter, so have this one of Luke.