cake oneshots || book two

For You Are Not Beside But Within Me (E)

Credit: elysianhood

I'm begging you to keep on haunting...

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Calum slammed the door shut to the random Uber, resisting the urge to flick the incompetent driver off and trudged up to the front door of the house he was sharing with the boys. His forehead throbbed from the constant creasing frown it had been in for the last four hours as he pulled his house key out of his pocket. He just wanted to get inside and release his frustration by seeing his pretty blue-eyed boy who always managed to have a calming effect when Calum was annoyed, and that opiate was desperately needed.

He was furious at himself and at the world – he couldn't have written a worse song this morning, and then when it came to recording and the other boys only needed a few tries to hit the notes perfectly or play the riff correctly, Calum needed ten, twenty or even more. At least that's what it felt like. The string on his bass had snapped three times and his voice had cracked when he sung, making tears of exasperation form in his throat and burn it. Which made singing even harder. And so while the rest of the boys had come back early, Feldy had made him stay behind for hours until he recorded his parts like a decent musician.

All he wanted was to open the door and see his baby boy on his knees behind it like the rules stated, so he could scoop him up and have a cathartic shower, Luke's timid hands rubbing into his stressed back muscles and his soft fingertips uncreasing the strained lines around Calum's face. But when he finally yanked open the door, those lines wrinkled even deeper.

Luke wasn't there.

But he'd texted him in his Uber, letting him know he was coming home and to wait as always; to wait as the rules clearly stated. Where was he? Calum felt his blood tick over from its simmering to a boil.

'Luke.' He called out sharply. It wasn't a question, it was a dominant statement. And when there was no response, he became even more annoyed.

'Lucas!'

A soft, familiar giggle coming from the living room let Calum know of the boy's whereabouts. Without even kicking off his shoes, he took wide strides into the designated room, stopping immediately when drinking in the sight in front of him.

It was Luke – his Luke – cuddling with Michael. The blonde boy had his cute cheek squished against Michael's shoulder and his thin arms curled around his tummy, blue-eyes wide as they gazed up at Michael's attractive face. Michael whispered something that made Luke giggle again and Calum clenched his fists at his sides.

'Luke,' he said loudly and clearly, watching Luke's eyes settle on him before they – and Calum almost couldn't believe this happened – turned back to stare at Michael, and he kept listening to what he was saying. Calum was in shock. Luke was never this disobedient, even by accident, and while not hearing Calum would be an accident, looking at him and not acknowledging his presence was certainly not. He was so shocked for a moment he couldn't move, that was until he heard Michael say something that made Calum see red.

'You're so pretty Lukey,' Michael murmured and leaned down to kiss Luke's cheeks, a flush coming onto them at the praise from the older boy.

No.

Calum took firm strides towards them and Michael, upon actually hearing Calum, turned and was surprised when seeing the Dom practically beetroot in the face. But Calum ignored Michael, his focus entirely on Luke as he said so lowly it made Michael shiver, 'Upstairs Luke. Now.'

And then Luke did something Calum never thought he would do to him – he rolled his eyes. He rolled his fucking eyes. And then if that wasn't enough, he had the absolute audacity to say, 'Calum, fuck off, I'm relaxing.'