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The next morning was the day they left for their first show of the Take Me Home tour. Luke threw up in the bathroom the moment he woke up, two hours before they had to leave for the arena. It was a miracle Luke was even able to wake up that early in the morning.

It didn't help that Michael was so tired he walked right into the open door to the bathroom, giving himself a black eye. Calum may have laughed at the sight, but his own anxieties were eating him up. Everyone, including Liz, was surprised when they all got into the van on time and in mostly one piece.

"Nervous?" Ashton asked, grabbing hold of Calum's hand and placing it in his lap. Calum eyed the front row, where Luke and Michael sat, suspiciously. The pair hadn't told their bandmates about the other part of their conversation the night before.

"Not really," he lied. If Calum was honest with himself, he was freaking the fuck out. The phone call had been final on his parents' end, but stepping out on stage tonight was Calum's response.

If Ashton knew that Calum lied, he didn't let on, just held Calum's hand tighter and bounced his leg.

Once they got to the venue, Ashton disappeared with the excuse of taking a phone call, leaving Calum with a green-faced Luke and a complaining Michael.

"I think I'm gonna throw up again," Luke mumbles, grabbing at his stomach and shuffling to the bathroom. Calum rolled his eyes and went back to scrolling on Twitter. Luckily he made it about two minutes before Michael groaned and flopped himself into Calum's lap.

"Eye hurts," he muttered, rubbing his nose on the fabric of Calum's jeans.

"Put the ice on it then," Calum said, pushing Michael off his legs.

"Ice hurts more," Michael whined. Calum huffed, a frustrated noise coming from his throat as he pushed himself off the couch. All the anxiety and fear from the past few weeks that had been festering began to boil dangerously.

"I'm taking a walk," he almost growled.

"No! Don't leave me!" Michael yelled to his retreating form.

Calum closed the door to their green room with a loud slam. It was vindicating. Looking back at the door, hoping to see a dent or something, he only saw a piece of paper taped to it. It read 5SOS in big block letters. The four characters felt like they were screaming at him.

The sound of the paper ripping away from the wall was cathartic. His shaky hands crumpled the paper into the tightest ball he could manage and shoved it into the back pocket of his jeans.

Calum felt like he was overflowing, like every emotion he'd kept in the little glass bottle in his chest had burst free. Now, broken glass littered his body.

"Stupid fucking shit. Goddamn-" Calum muttered under his breath as he stormed around the halls, no clear path, just a mindless rampage. His chest was tight and his jaw hurt with the pressure he was putting on it. If there was one time Calum wanted Ashton to use his superpower and come talk him off the ledge, it was now.

But of course, his boyfriend was nowhere to be found.

In a moment of pure fury, Calum punched the cement wall in the hallway.

"Fuck!" he cried out. One of his knuckles had split, which burned as he opened and closed his fist. At least nothing was broken from his display of anger.

His hands shook with the desire to be held by Ashton and Calum felt something try and tug him back to the green room. That feeling pulled on his mind until his only objective was storming back.

The unmarked door was harder to find this time around.

Harshly yanking the door open, Calum was met with a scene that he'd never expected and one he never wanted to walk into again. Ashton was sitting on the couch with his head in his hands and his shoulders shaking and Luke and Michael on either side of him. Soft sobs could be heard over Luke's mumbling.