five years into ashton and calums marriage, yet some things seem to be falling apart.
third book in little!calum series.
thanks again to @scaredsackless for the cover!
calum had cried himself to sleep in michaels arms after that. the poor boy was sobbing so bad, michael could feel his whole body shake with every cry and harsh intake of breath. there was nothing michael could do besides let calum cry.
after calum cried himself to sleep, michael tucked them both into bed. after that, michael was not going to leave calum alone. so, he held calum in his arms all night long as they both slept.
when michael woke up, calum was still fast asleep, so he got up slowly and left. he figured maybe a nice breakfast and coffee would help.
unfortunately, michael was wrong.
when michael went back up to the room, and tried to open the door, it wouldn't open all the way. it opened an inch, and then stopped. michael kept pushing and pushing, trying to get the door open.
"calum?" michael calls, pushing the door again, "open the door, please."
"no."
"calum, please, open the door."
"no."
"i made us breakfast, cal. and i even have some banana bread in the oven. so come on, open the door that way we can go to the kitchen and eat breakfast together."
calum doesn't say anything. nor does michael hear anything so he knows calum is still laying in bed. michael gets it open a tiny bit more, and sees his spare dresser in front of the door.
sneaky bastard, michael thought.
_
it had been four hours since michael had first tried to open the door. there had been absolutely no movement in the spare room, which worries michael more and more as time passed.
at the same time, he knew calum needed time to process whatever happened, and process his own feelings. which, for calum, could take days since he was an overthinker. michael just hoped that calum would come out of the room and just talk to him.
if he didnt, michael would make an emergency phone call to ashton by the end of the night. so, calum had til nine that night. after that, michael had no idea what would happen if ashton had to come back.
luckily, by six that night, calum had actually come out of the spare room.
it had michael doing a double take when he saw calum walk into the living room. and calum was dressed in something besides ashtons hoodie and sweatpants.
black skinny jeans hugged his legs and a short sleeve tee shirt that was a size too big (so it was most likely ashtons) hung off his shoulders. michael stared at him before shaking his head.
"calum?"
"mikey, can we..." calum takes a deep breath, and looks down at his hands, "can we go to the store?"
"you want to go to the store?" michael asks slowly, trying to make sure he understood what calum had asked. the boy kept himself locked away in the spare room pretty much all day, and now he wanted to go to the store?
"yes, please."
michael can hear a slight tremor in calums voice. that, plus his small form shaking slightly. michael knew calum for a long time, and he knew that calum was very, very anxious. yet, michael couldn't exactly figure out why, if he was so anxious about going to the store...why did he want to go?
"uh, sure," michael says, "you ready?"
calum nods, and forces a smile. so, they walk out to his car, and get in. the whole drive to the store is silent. from the corner of michaels eye, he can see calums form shaking the whole time. instead, he just doesn't say anything about it. he wanted to see what this was all about.
they head in, and calum keeps himself glued to michaels side for the first fifteen minutes they walked around in there.
then, the thoughts start to swirl around in his head again.
you need to be independent! just go buy something and talk to someone that way ashton can be happy with me! just talk to someone!
calum takes a deep breath, "mi-mikey? i-i want to get a-ashton flowers."
"oh, okay, alright. the flowers are over here, come on," michael says, leading calum over to the flowers. calum then lets himself stray away from michael to go look at all the pretty, colorful flowers.
calum smiled a bit when he saw a pretty bouquet of sunflowers.
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(imagine from online search xD)
"those are really pretty, cal. ash will love them," michael says from beind calum, making the other boy jump a bit.
"y-yeah?"
"yeah, absolutely."
"okay...i-im ready to c-check out."
"okay cal, come on. do you need some money?"
calum nods as they walk to the checkout, and thanks michael after he takes the twenty dollar bill.
"i-i got this," calum whispers to himself, taking a deep breath as he stood at the entry way for the checkout. after a couple seconds of taking deep breaths, calum walks up and hands the flowers to the nice lady at the checkout.
"is that it for you today, hun?" she asks, carefully setting the flowers in a plastic case. calum just nods, too quickly, since his anxiety was starting to sky rocket.
i want ashton
"alright. that'll be sevtenteen dollars and eighty-six cents."
calum nervously hands over the twenty, and michael can once again see how badly his hand was shaking as he handed her the money. calum gets the change, takes the bag, and quickly walks out of the store. michael has to jog a bit to catch up with him.
"are you alright, cal?" michael asks, unlocking the door. they climb in, and calum doesn't say anything.
michael can tell calums body is trembling harder.
"cal?"
calums starting to hyperventilate as tears cloud his eyes. michael quickly pulls the car out, and speeds to ashtons house. calum lets out a loud sob, and harhsly sucks in a deep breath.
"ne-need a-ashton!"
"don't worry, cal, we're going to ashton," michael says, speeding down the road as he dials ashtons number.
michael can only hope calum will last until they got to ashtons house.
