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reveriesofawriter · 4 years

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okay i'm going to send a non mashton prompt for once: “What are you listening to? Can I hear?” on an airplane with malum?

Michael thought Calum was the best to fly next to. Ashton got up too often and Luke always used him as a pillow, but Calum was good at being soft and steady next to him, in the air and on the ground. If he was being honest, Michael liked being next to Calum all the time. It was too bad they were a stage across from each other when they performed, not that it ever stopped them from finding their way to each other anyway.

Calum was usually quiet on planes too. He never minded if Michael talked, but they both preferred to listen to music or watch movies the whole time. Half the time they would share headphones. Michael pushed up the armrest between them and cuddled into Calum’s side. Usually this was when Calum would automatically offer him one of his headphones, but he didn’t. Michael frowned a little and pushed his head against Calum’s shoulder, and Calum shifted slightly so he would be more comfortable, but he didn’t offer any music.

“Cal?”

“Hmm?”

“What are you listening to? Can I hear?” Calum got a little tense and Michael lifted his head. “What?”

“Nothing,” Calum said quickly. He pulled out one of his earbuds and passed it to Michael, but not before changing the song.

“Why’d you change it?” Michael asked.

“I felt like you’d like this song better.”

Calum was lying to him, and usually he’d let it go, but Calum had been acting weird around him for days. He’d been sticking to his side of the stage, for one. He hadn’t been sharing his snacks without Michael asking. He’d also asked to room with Ashton on their last hotel night. Michael glanced over at Luke and Ashton across the aisle; Luke was already asleep and Ashton was on his phone. They looked normal. Calum was listening to music out of one earbud and Michael was holding the other in his hand, far enough away from his ear that he couldn’t tell what song was playing over the ambient plane sounds.

Calum finally realized, or maybe stopped ignoring, that Michael was still looking at him. “Why can’t I hear the other song?” Michael asked. “I’m not gonna judge you for your taste in music, you know.” Calum looked away again. “Why is it a secret?”

“Because it wasn’t a song,” Calum said.

“So what was it?”

“I don’t want to tell you.”

“Is it something to do with why you’re avoiding me?”

“I’m not.”

“Yes you are, you’ve been weird for more than a week, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.”

Michael let the earbud drop to Calum’s side as he sat up. “If you don’t want to be best friends anymore, you can just say it,” he huffed. Now that was a lie. If Calum said anything of the sort, Michael wouldn’t know what to do with himself.

Calum sighed. “It was you.”

“What was me?”

“That I was listening to.”

“You mean one of our songs? That’s not weird, I listen to us all the time. We’re great.”

“It wasn’t a song.” Calum held the other earbud back up to Michael as he scrolled through his music and landed on a track that was all numbers. Michael put it to his ear and heard only his own voice, jabbering away about absolutely nothing. “It was you.”

“What is- why were you listening to that? Where did you even get it from?”

“You sent it to me last time we were home. I wasn’t answering your calls I guess so you talked at my voicemail for five minutes until it cut you off.”

“But why?”

“I like hearing your voice?” Calum said, looking at Michael worriedly.

“But I’m right here? I can talk to you now.”

“I don’t want to make you talk to me,” Calum said.

“When have you ever made me do anything? I like talking to you. But you’re avoiding me, so I can’t.”

“I’m sorry,” Calum said quietly. “I don’t want you to stop being my best friend.”

“Good, I don’t want- wait why would I stop being your friend?”

“Because I like you?”

“I like you too?” Michael said, confused.

“No, I like you,” Calum insisted.

Michael’s stomach dropped, because of Calum or the turbulence. No one else seemed bothered, so, because of Calum. “You—”

“Please don’t hate me,” Calum said.

“I don’t hate you,” Michael said, sounding dazed even to himself. “I like you too.” Too early to say he loved Calum, he supposed.

“You do?”

“Yeah,” Michael said breathlessly. “For a long time.”

“And you never told me?”

He didn’t know exactly how to say he’d thought it was pretty obvious, that besides Calum being his best friend, he might as well have been his favorite person ever, and he didn’t even try to hide it. “You never told me either.”

“I didn’t think you’d like me back.”

“What’s not to like?” Michael asked, cuddling back against Calum. He was warm and comfy and playing Michael a song they both liked, and now he was loosely holding Michael’s hand, squeezing his fingers like he was trying Michael’s hand on for size. Calum would never not be the best person to fly next to.

#thank you maggieeeeeeee #up until 3:30 am writing and what a feeling truly #now i can go read what you posted #if my internet will cooperate that is #calumsclifford

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