5SOS Preferences

Baby Talk (T)

CALUM

As soon as you had Iden down and sleeping in the bassinette that Michael and his wife dropped off along with their children, you moved out of the guest room and towards your master suite that you and Calum had been sharing for three of the five years you had been together. His voice was a whisper in the darkness, so you silently leaned against the door frame and hugged yourself, listening in as you could only make out so much of your long term boyfriend’s body in the unlit room. He had one leg off the bed and his back was against the headboard, that much was obvious.

Melodically, but in a hush, Calum was finishing his own rendition of ‘Pictures of You’ by The Cure to Emmeline, already fast asleep by the second verse, as his fingers soothingly mowed through her hair, her head taking up little room on his pillow. Any time they were together, he and Emmeline, he sang the song to her, even harmonizing under Michael’s leads at the first concert they performed as a band after Emmeline’s summer birthday. It was the lullaby he dedicated to her since he couldn’t quite find the right chords to write her one of his own. While he loved his other nieces and nephews unconditionally, Calum and Emmeline had a strange kinship from the first moment he held her, in her nursery a full week after she was born.

Smiling, you listened as his lips came down and smacked over her, right on her Ping-Pong ball cheek.

“Goodnight, Emmy.” He whispered against her before carefully maneuvering himself off of the bed, worried he might disturb her as she had fallen asleep with her fingers around one of his.

With the hallway light on, he could see you standing in the door and smiled softly as he snuck out. You backed away and walked out of the hallway to the kitchen where there were dishes waiting in the sink. Instead, you listened to Calum gently close the door, unlike all the other times he came and went out of the room.

“We did it.” He laughed, crashing against the cold fridge door behind you. “A full day of Clifford babies.” Closing his eyes, Calum swore he could have fallen asleep right then and there if he tried. He had babysat Michael’s daughter loads of time and his son, the two of them together, but never for much longer than a few hours. Usually, all the other parents and some crew members were around to help, a village raising the tiny 5 Seconds of Summer offspring, but today you and Calum had offered to give Michael and his beautiful wife a full day of themselves. They hadn’t really been child-free since Iden was born, two children bringing more of a change than they initially realized.

“So we shall be rewarded.” You took your attention away from the dishes, deciding they could be loaded into the washer some other time. Spinning around, you pointed to the door Calum was keeping shut, indicating your desire for a cold brew.

Calum didn’t need any other hint. He turned around with his hand around the black handle and whipped it open instantly, covering himself in light brighter than his yellow socks. He reached in with one hand and picked up the bottles by their brown necks, sliding them between his fingers. He let the door close on its own behind him, extending his arm for you to take a cold drink for yourself, stealing a kiss from your lips slathered in peppermint balm as you did.

“I love that you sing that song to her.” Sighing, you gushed and reached around his side to open up the drawer where you two kept cutlery in order to find a bottle opener. “I know it’s a private thing, but I had to listen. It’s just so sweet.”

“She seems to like it. Tiny Cure fan.” He chuckled, taking the opener from you once your cap was off, letting cool steam rise out of the beer bottle. “Did Iden go down easy?”

“Oh yeah. He was exhausted since we forgot about his nap.” Nodding, you clanked the neck of your bottle against his and reached up to kiss him again, letting his lips linger and giving him a chance to hold your hip with his empty hand this time. You two weren’t parents, just the fun Uncle and Aunt to the constantly growing brood of 5 Seconds of Summer children, so remembering the schedule that Michael’s wife had told you didn’t come second nature. Thankfully, it was nowhere near as detailed as the information Ashton and his wife left behind when they went anywhere without their two kids. It was practically a Bible.