strippers sitch ❥ cth

❥ nine

CALUM

both calum and sage slept through the night, before calum, the "early bird" of the two, woke up at noon. seeing sage curled into him with her arm around his neck and her legs intertwined with his truly made the maori smile. he laid in peace for a few more minutes before the events from last night threaded their way back into his mind. immediately, worry flushed the boy's mind, as he looked over sage to see if she had any injuries, happy that nothing seemed out of place, but infuriated at the bruise at the bottom of her neck, left from that excuse of a man's thumb. slowly, he slid out of the bed, careful not to wake the seemingly fragile girl laying next to him, before headed out into the main corridor, with the intention of making breakfast.

as he passed the family room on the way to the kitchen, his eyes made contact with ashton's, who seemed to previously have been reading. it seemed like an unseen force was calling calum to sit for a minute, for a reason even he couldn't figure out. after starting a light conversation with ashton about his trip to the studio yesterday, calum suddenly opened up- he had always had issues with talking about things, and his fears, anxieties, and negative thoughts would hide themselves inside until they simply burst.

it was like he couldn't control himself. he started with all the pressure he felt he had on himself about the album, how everyone was expecting their best work yet, and he wasn't sure if he could deliver anything even decent, and then the declaration slowly moved towards sage. sweet sage, his confusion about his feelings, how he had missed her for the past week, even about how he felt about the incident of the night before. it felt like mere minutes had passed before calum looked at his watch and saw that an hour had passed. calum was so, so thankful to be friends with ashton - he was the wisest person he knew, and ashton was always willing to listen to calum and offer any advice he could. so, that's what he did - ashton sat intently throughout the hour, listening to his best friend describe some of the most painful times of his life, and ashton tried to take his friend's pain away. the four bandmates were very close, but calum and ashton simply clicked- the two had been inseparable from the beginning, and no one could see an end to the friendship.

slowly, calum rose off the couch to make the forgotten breakfast for sage. after making some waffles and placing them on a plate, he walked into his room as quietly as he could, desperate to not wake the likely-sleeping girl in his bed. to his surprise, sage was already awake - but the poor girl was curled into a ball, with silent tears running down her cheeks.

immediately, calum set the plate down on a dresser, and came to sage's side. without saying a word, he laid in the bed, pulled the girl into his chest, and started humming softly as he lightly ran his fingers up and down her arm.

"if i believe you, will that make it stop? if i told you i need you, is that what i want?"

after a few minutes, he felt sage slowly stop her light shaking, before she lifted her head to look at him. "thank you," was all she got out before another round of tears fell from the corners of her eyes. "i-i didn't know what was going to happen.... he was j-just there, and he w-wouldn't go away..." the crying girl omitted, leaving the boy lost for words. so he did what he knew, and he comforted the girl as she poured her fear out in front of him.

the hours passed, and soon again, it was dark out - neither sage nor calum had taken notice, as they'd been so focused on each other. finally, sage looked up from calum's chest, and saw that the moon had fully risen.

"shall we go to bed then? i think we've had enough of today," calum spoke softly. instinctively, sage rolled off of him to the other side of the bed, not wanting to bother him with her body. after a few moments, she felt a hand snake over her waist, and she rolled back over into calum's warm embrace, and the two fell asleep together for the second night in a row.

••••
hi im alive

the song calum sang is if i believe you by the 1975 (if you have a better lyric set, please please please tell me :)

i am heading back to my regularly scheduled life next week so i will be back to updating every few days!

<3 vic