"It's Not Love If It Hurts" //5sos

/170/

  When Mali-Koa opened the door, she found herself face to face with a purple haired, messy clothed Michael.

  "Hey Mikey," Mali said brightly, opening the door wider to let him in. As soon as he was in, she closed it, peeking through the peephole to see if anyone was outside. "Did anyone follow you?"

  He shook his head tiredly. "No, not this time. I snuck out the back way."

  She nodded. Usually it wasn't like this, but whenever the boys were home the fans did whatever they could to catch a glance of one of them.
    Mali looked at Mikey uncertainly. "Calum's upstairs in his room. He came home drunk last night."

  Michael raised his eyebrows. "How? He was on a plane for 15 hours."

  "He's dead asleep. Probably won't have a chance of waking him up for another few hours, and then he'll be hungover."

  Michale considered this. "No chance at all of him waking up?"

  Mali cocked her head to the side. "Let's see." She took a deep breath, then screamed shrilly, keeping an eye on his door upstairs. "See? Not even-"

  Calum's door flew open, banging against the wall as he sprinted towards the stairs, looking around rapidly, a look of confusion clearly written on his face. He sprinted down the stairs, running to the living room and looking around wildly, completely ignoring the two figures by the door. Finally, his eyes locked on Mikey, and he set his path straight for his friend, his head boiling over with anger. "Clifford, I swear to God, where is she."

  He walked up until he was chest to chest with Michael, doing whatever he could to make himself appear larger.

  Michael's breath hitched. Mali was looking at them in confusion, probably wondering 'what's going on?'

  He cleared his throat, pushing Calum away lightly. "In California."

  The mist started to clear from Calum's eyes, but he was still looking around like he expected something- or rather, someone- to just be sitting at the table. "What- but- I thought I heard-"

  "I was the one who screamed," Mali said, raising her hand slightly. "I figured you were too tired and hung over to hear it."

  Calum looked between the two of them, slowly realizing. "It wasn't-"

  "No, it wasn't," Mikey agreed, trying to keep his expression calm. "It was just Mali."

  It seemed like Calum couldn't decide whether to look at his sister, or his friend. Finally, he decided on his friend. "Don't you dare-"

  "I won't," he reassured. "I know the rules."

  "I will," Calum threatened, leaving it out in the open. "I will hit you so hard-"

  "I get it." Michael shoved his hands in his pockets uncomfortably. "Look, I didn't realize you'd be hungover. Go to bed. I'll go bother Ashton, or Luke or something."

  Calum's gaze immediately softened. "Mikey-"

  "It's fine! Get some sleep, drink some water."

  Michael had just turned, with his hand on the front door when Calum stopped him. "The storage closet."

  Michael froze. "What?"

  "The storage closet," he repeated, how voice calmer now. "You know which one I'm talking about."

  There was a storage closet where they worked, where Calum would always go to when he needed a break from the boys, usually Luke. He'd either come out on his own, when he realized he needed to apologize, or when one of the boys came to get him and apologized. It was usually Luke.

  Johanna and John had one major rule for how the boys acted, and it was that they couldn't be fake. That meant that not only did they need to be themselves, but also that they couldn't fake their friendship. If they had a fight, they needed to make up asap. "The fans are just as attracted to your chemistry as they are to your music," Johanna had once said. "Don't disappoint."

  Michael's gaze softened. He let go of the door knob, and gave Calum a little hug, which ended with Calum hugging him so tightly he could've picked him up. When they finally let go, Michael sent him a small smile. "It's all good," he said truthfully. "I'll see you later?"

  "You can count on it."

  Calum and Mali watched as Michael left, closing the door behind him.

  "What was that about?" She asked in complete disbelief.

  Calum smiled smally. "A lot of things. I couldn't explain it if I tried."

  A/N: But I could.
  Mali screamed and it immediately woke Calum up because he thought it was Annie. He immediately ran downstairs and started searching for her, and instead found only Mikey. He immediately thought Michael did something and was furious. Mikey reminded him that Annie was in California, while they were in Australia. Calum realized, and at the same time realized that Mikey was talking with his sister. He reminded him (aggressively) that they had a rule where you can't date any of each others sisters, and basically implied that he thought Michael might try something with Mali like he did with Annie. Michael was slightly offended offended and it was obvious that he wasn't wanted, but Calum relented, and offered an apology. Michael left on good terms. And Mali didn't understand a single thing that had happened.