Out in the Woods [5SOS AU]

Chapter 16

Everyone in the house had spent the night sleeping. Some maybe a little restless in comparison to the others, but everyone slept. And funnily enough, they all slept in pairs.

Calum had obviously fallen asleep while pressing himself against Michael, leaving his night to go by quickly, but quite restless.

Ashton and Bryana always slept together anyway, so that wasn't anything new.

And lastly, Luke had stayed to comfort Valeria, funnily enough being the first to fall asleep. Even if Valeria had been the one to cry and get exhausted, Luke had been the first to drop his head on the other. Valeria had laughed tiredly at the blonde, who had snored softly, before cuddling closer to him and falling asleep herself.

This morning however, Calum awoke to something he hadn't in a few days. But something that made his heart skip a few beats as his eyes widened sleepily. "M-Mikey?"

Beautiful green eyes were watching his every move, moving fast as they went back to the Beta's brown eyes, slight crinkles appearing next to them as Michael smiled widely. "Hi."

Calum choked out a relieved sound, managing to manoeuvre his arms around the other's neck and pull him close. Tears of happiness left the Beta, his face burying in the other's neck as he took in his familiar scent. He had missed the other so much, even in just the few days that had passed. And to know all his hope hadn't been for nothing, that was such a good feeling.

"Hey, what- what's wrong?" Michael asked worriedly, his voice slightly cracking and making him furrow his eyebrows in confusion. What had he done that had made this situation happen?

Calum only cried harder, holding onto the other tightly as he let everything out. Michael just let it happen, knowing the Beta needed it. Sure, it had happened before, but both he himself and the Beta knew it would happen more often now they had gotten so close.

Now he thought about it, Michael remembered their cuddling and cuteness. Then that they had talked about his progress and he remembered how he had thought he had to catch a bunny to prove he was progressing. But now he thought of that, he found it to be stupid. What would a bunny prove? There were so many bunnies out there and catching one surely wouldn't prove how good you were at being a wolf. It almost made the boy snort at those thoughts. He could barely believe those were his.

But, back to the remembering part. He remembered waking up before Calum the next morning and going out, trying to do what he had thought about the night before. He had changed and ran, letting himself be pulled towards that familiar scent. He could vaguely remember smelling something else as well, but after that, everything was black. Up until now, when he woke up in Calum's arms.

Could he have had a panic attack again? And he had passed out, one of the guys probably finding him and bringing him home. Which then brought him here again, several hours later, as he saw on the alarm clock besides his bed. Could all of that have happened in about three hours, he wondered, before deciding it was the only logical explanation. Even if he had been stupid to think a bunny would prove things.

"I'm so glad you're alive." Calum mumbled, sniffling as he kept on hugging the younger boy. Michael's eyebrows furrowed a little as he thought about Calum's reaction. Sure, he and Calum were close now and weren't weirded out by sharing their emotions, but Calum's reaction to him waking up was a bit... too much if this was about a panic attack. Right...?

"I- Cal?" Michael mumbled, tapping the male's shoulder in the hope he would pull back. Calum sighed quietly, but pulled back, wiping at his eyes to remove the tears that stuck to his eyelashes. "Hm?"