𝙛𝙖𝙩𝙚 ⚣ 𝙘𝙩𝙝+𝙖𝙛𝙞 ✔

2

their fits ^

btw, cal has blonde curls in this but just for right now. it will change. so don't come at me with the "omg you really love the curls don't you"

sftu we all fucking love the curls now read your damn fanfiction

-

Calum was once again covering someone else's shift at work. Truthfully, he didn't mind--he usually didn't--but something about today seemed off. Some voice in the back of Calum's head just wouldn't leave him alone. It kept telling him that today was going to be terrible.

For most of the day, his brain seemed to be wrong. Everything was normal. He took orders, he collected the money, he made the drinks and picked out the occasional donut, cookie or bagel. The customers acted the same way; most weren't exactly nice, but none of them were seriously rude.

He just couldn't shake the feeling that something terribly wrong was going to happen today. He had no idea what it could be, but he was driving himself insane trying to figure it out. Nothing had gone wrong in his life (nothing major, anyways) for a while. The worst that had happened was him spilling coffee on his shirt or something of that sort.

Today simply didn't feel right. And of course, by his first break at noon, that something went wrong. He had taken a seat at a booth by himself near the counter (his boss tended to freak out if his employees went too far, Calum did not understand why). He was mindlessly scrolling through a store's website on his phone, looking for some new furniture.

He had decided about an hour prior that he wasn't going to worry about what happened throughout the day. Whatever was supposed to happen would happen. But that decision blew up in his face when someone he hadn't seen in over a year walked through the front doors.

The second Calum saw him, his mind blanked. His breathing sped up, his jaw went slack and he suddenly had not a single clue where he was. He thought he could handle seeing him again, he told himself that frequently, but he now knew that he was in fact not ready to see the hazel-eyed, honey-voiced man.

And he especially wasn't ready to see the man holding his ex-lover's hand.
The pain was not physical. No, it was like a second heartbreak. Calum thought that he had moved on, but seeing the man with someone else made him realize just how much he'd missed him.

The fancy dates, the nights in, the spontaneous adventures, the days where they'd barely even leave the bed. He wanted it again. The late night phone calls when they were apart, the messages he would wake up to when he fell asleep early, the random confessions of love that followed the simplest, most unimportant actions. He missed having someone's shoulder to cry on. He missed being someone's shoulder to cry on.

Calum was constantly stuck between wanting to feel that love again and not wanting to risk feeling that hurt again.

He felt tears begin to form in his eyes. No, he was not about to cry at work. He buried his face in his hands and tried to be unnoticeable. He bit his plump bottom lip and tugged at the tufts of blonde hair that managed to escape from the front of his beanie and prayed that he could just be ignored.

He swore he was invisible, swore it was working until-

"Cal?"

And Calum felt every memory hit him like a ton of bricks. He couldn't have just stayed home and had a relaxing day, oh no, he had to go to work and end up seeing the only person who he hoped every morning that he wouldn't have to face.

"Are you okay?"

Calum looked up at Ashton and the other man. Their hands were still joined. Calum looked at other man's face and wished he could be him. He looked at Ashton's face and wanted to punch him. But he also wanted to kiss him. He didn't know which urge was stronger.