Priorities | Malum

〰 15 〰

Michael was afraid of thunderstorms, and he woke up to one. Calum on the other hand, loved them and found them to be the second most relaxing thing on the planet. The first was kissing Michael.

"I-I, it's thundering and I'm so scared," Michael said immediately upon Calum answering the Skype call at two in the morning.

Calum remembered the night that Michael stayed over at his place. How they were watching horror movies because Michael wanted to make an excuse to cuddle with Calum, even though he were afraid of the characters and scenery. He remembers seeing lightning flash in the sky across from the window, where they could see it clearly since they were sitting on the floor with their legs wrapped around each other.

Michael was so afraid when hearing the thunder that he started shaking. Badly. And Calum smiled sadly to himself because he was practically recreating the moment with Michael, except he wasn't there to comfort his boyfriend.

"Shh, kitten. The storm will go away soon."

"I-It won't. It's so loud and it's getting closer and I have nowhere to-"

Boom. Another thundercloud hitting above Michaels rooftop. Calum could hear the sounds of rain pelting against the pavement in the background. It was like that time where there wasn't a thunderstorm, just some rain and sunlight caving it's way in as they kissed under the rain and shared soft I love you's. Of course, Calum got sick the day after from giving Michael his jacket but it was worth it nonetheless.

"Baby, stop crying. I hate seeing you upset, especially because I'm not there to comfort you. I need you to grab a pair of earbuds."

"Why?" Michael said shakily, just wanting to hide in Calum's arms so he could avoid the storm until it ended.

"I'm going to sing to you. Put on your earbuds."

Michael did as told, grabbing the white chords off of his dresser and plugging them into the hole on the bottom of his iPad. He then put them in both of his ears and waited for Calum to start singing softly. It wasn't loud enough for him to avoid listening to the storm, but it was something and hearing Calum sing always calmed Michael down.

And it also helped Michael fall back asleep.

Calum smiled in contentment when realizing he helped calm his boyfriend down. He then found himself drifting off to sleep, not once hanging up the Skype call. Because waking up to Michael was also one of the best things in the world in Calum's mind.

-

"What happened last night?" Michael questioned, his head pounding. He felt as though he were having a weird hangover, even though he doesn't like alcohol. It was just from a lack of sleep, which kind of really sucked, but he couldn't do anything about it.

"There was a storm and you called me crying," Calum whispered with a lazy smile approaching his futures. He was so beautiful after waking up, Michael thought. If only he could experience it again, someday.

"You know, you're really pretty when you wake up. I've always noticed that," Michael commented, and now Calum was the one hiding his face because he loved receiving comments from Michael early in the morning. It was the best way to jump start his days.

"And so are you."

-

Michael was sitting in an ice cream parlor, with Ashton by his side. Of course, his curly haired friend was too focused on studying for midterms, which Michael understood, but it still didn't change the fact that he felt both empty and lonely. Sure, being somewhere that wasn't his dorm and wasn't part of his "natural world" made it easier to reflect on some of the memories he created in the past with his boyfriend, but it wasn't the same that he couldn't create any now.