spotlight :: malum

: forty eight :

After every show one may expect the singer to be worn out and tired, that they'd just want to lay back down in the tour bus and sleep. But, of course, Calum's always surging with his adrenaline rush of performing night after night with his body always freshly washed from the shower and constantly awake unlike Michael who just wants to sleep.

He had attempted to stay awake with the rockstar at one point, partially because it sucks falling asleep without his boyfriend holding him or vice versa. Another part of that was the fact Calum's always complaining about how he rarely sees his boyfriend despite the fact they're literally in the same vicinity every day.

He's just so busy and the jet lag is a new thing for Michael so his brain is awake far later than Calum's who's up and out of his bunk seven times a day taking five minute naps before his tour workers have to drag him out for work.

They rarely leave past the venue that they're staying in due to Calum's tight schedule and the fact he can't go into large crowds left them very, very minimal places to be cute and touristy around the many places they went to.

Right now they were on the American leg of the tour, a very tired Calum was in the small cubby of a space with a drowsy Michael laying beside him, the red fringe getting played with as the maori scrawled in one of his song books, humming the many melodies to himself as he tried to keep his inspiration steady. He's his most inspired self when Michael's near him.

He had nearly fallen asleep, a very stronge urge kept him up since this is the first time they've both been awake and together in awhile. Michael wants to cherish it even if they aren't talking. He wants to speak, but he's scared he'll interrupt his crucial thought process.

"Babe, are you up?" The brunette had beat him to talking first, his fingers running through Michael's roots and stopping his writing momentarily.

Lowly, he hummed a yes and laid his head so it would rest on Calum's chest, giving him a somewhat better view of what's written on the page but most was still hard to read because of the lack of lighting.

"Can you help? I wanna touch up this verse but I'm stuck." Hearing the brunette ask for help was strange, especially since he prefers to do his work alone. The trust someone has to have to even be able to touch his journals is high, being able to read and revise his writing is even higher.

The pale boy readjusted his position so he could sit lazily on the older boy's lap and took the book from his hands, skimming over the first page until he spotted where Calum's finger tapped at a certain string of words for help.

"What's it about?" Michael furrowed his eyebrows, not getting a full essence of the song and needs some background on it before he can list a couple alternatives for the verse.

"Wrote it when we were apart, I was tired and drinking but it's somehow really good. Talks about wanting you even though I'm in London." In awe, Michael ran his hand slowly across the ink, seeing these words with such a deeper meaning.

"How does it go?" He whispered it, curiosity and a slight sadness starting to churn in his stomach, recalling the feeling of when they were apart. "I'll sing it to you one day, just focus on the verse."

Brushing off the singing made Michael only yearn to hear it more, his heart anchoring lowly as he read the words over and over. He can't stop imagining how this must've happened, his usually scratchy handwriting looked messier than usual, all slurred and there were dried tear drops on the pages that smeared some of the words.

"On the plane." Michael whispered it, elaborating further, "Did you write this on the plane?"

The silence he got in return seemed an answer in itself. He understood that was a bit of an odd question to ask but he just needs to know where he wrote this. It'd make sense if he wrote this on the plane considering that is when he had started drinking the day he left. That's when he tweeted the picture of alcohol. If he was drinking but not drunk just yet that would've been the right time.