"yes mom, yes! i'm coming on thursday, okay? stop freaking out. what? you wanna see michael too? he's your favorite? mom- okok, we'll see you thursday alright? okay i love you, bye." calum ended the call and he groaned, running a hand through his hair.
luke appeared suddenly, making calum jump. "dude, can you not?"
"sorry, i was just eavesdropping on your conversation with your mother." he laughed. "she likes michael more than you? ha, i can see why."
"what the hell is that supposed to mean?" calum squeaked.
"you're kinda plain my friend. always talking about grading your students papers and taxes and boring things, i don't know. you act like a dad who hosts too many barbecues."
calum looked at the ghost in disbelief. how dare he say that? calum's a fun guy. he goes to his fair share of parties and talks about cool things when he wants.
"you're rude." calum pouted and he walked away.
when thursday rolled around, calum and michael had their suitcases right by the front door and the pair were in the kitchen, grabbing a snack for the ride to the airport.
ashton and luke were sat on the counter, watching the pair frantically look for something to eat.
"it's not that hard to pick out a snack guys." ashton said. calum rolled his eyes.
"well i can't find the god damn cliff bars. did you eat them?" calum asked ashton.
"nah, i don't like those things." he said.
"oh, but i do!" luke smirked.
calum just gave luke the most deadpan look. he pursed his lips together and mumbled. "of course."
"hey, can ashton and i throw a party while you're gone?" luke asked blatantly.
"what? no! no parties while michael and i are away." he looked at the couple. "i mean it."
luke raised his hands in defense. "ok ok, sorry. 'was just wondering." he let his arms drop and he leaned on ashton's shoulder.
calum found two granola bars. "okay mikey, i got some stuff. don't bother to look for anything anymore, or we'll be late. let's go."
"but i don't like-" michael began to whine but calum didn't let him finish.
"i know you don't like it. we can just get something at the airport then ok? let's go."
so the boys rushed to the door. luke and ashton followed and stood watching them as they picket up their suitcases.
"goodbye to the undead roomies! catch ya later!" michael said as he walked out of the door.
calum, with a granola bar hanging from his mouth as he clutched his suitcase, looked at the ghosts with a serious face. "no. parties." and he turned around and left.
"ok, goodbye to you too," ashton shouted to him.
"ashton?" luke looked to ashton. ashton turned to him.
"what hun?"
"we're so throwing that party."
so, while calum and michael we're back home visiting calum's mom, ashton and luke threw a ghost party the next night without the boring barbecuing dad's permission.
in the weird universe of ghosts and such, they had their own things like humans did. telephones, "online" stores (which suck in ashton's opinion, he prefers regular human stores), and restaurants and other things. it wasn't like luke and ashton were stuck in this house, they could go out and do things, but this was the house they were bound to since they passed in the home.
luke ordered things to decorate the house with and got some food and stuff. meanwhile, ashton called up a bunch of his and luke's ghost besties for the party.
when the party rolled around, it was late. the neighborhood was dark, except for their house, and the only sound that could be heard outside were the crickets. inside the home, the party was wild. ghosts everywhere. ghosts can speak at a velocity where humans can't hear it, so the party was thrown that way. if this were like any normal human party, complaints from the neighbors would be filed left and right.
luke floated into the semi crowded kitchen, and he opened the fridge, looking for calum's really good hard cider that he tries to hide but really can't. it's just placed in the very back of the fridge, behind all the other contents overflowing inside.
he grabbed a bottle for ashton and himself and he closed the fridge door. when he turned to walk to his boyfriend, another ghost blocked his way.
"hey luke! long time no see huh?" the ghost, who was rena, smiled.
luke squealed. "RENA!" and enveloped her in a tight hug. "it's been so long! how are you?"
rena replied. "i'm doing alright. sick party you're throwing. everyone's making out."
they both laughed and looked around. a lot of ghosts were making out. on the counters, on the couch, probably in michael's or calum's rooms too. hopefully not the attic though. that's lashton's spot™️. and their cat sleeps up there and if their baby gets bothered luke'll throw hands.
they chatted for a little bit longer and then luke walked away to find ashton. he found him in the living room conversing with their friends louis and harry, another ghost couple who died from a gruesome murder in their home many years before luke and ashton. someone caught them and since lgbtq+ related things were seen as a huge sin back in the day, a homophobic murderer got to them sadly.
"'got your cider hun. hello boys," luke sighed and smiled at the other couple whilst handing ashton's drink to him.
"hello luke. how's it going lad? ashton told us that there's company in this house now." louis said, arm loosely wrapped around harry's waist.
"ah yea. calum and michael. they're cool dudes."
"oh, they know about you guys?" harry asked.
ashton nodded. "yea, they caught us making out at one of their parties in calum's room."
"couldn't they've just thought you were some of the guests?" harry asked.
"well, um, we kind of fell through the wall so," luke replied.
the other couple laughed. "that's great!" louis said inbetween laughs.
the group chatted for some time after that, and the party was going strong.
until calum and michael showed up.
they'd just gotten back early from visiting joy, since calum lied to his mom saying he had to be back so he could prepare schoolwork for his students, even though they had an extra long weekend, four days, due to some staff thing he didn't have to worry about.
as calum was driving home from the airport, he and michael talked about the ghosts.
"'how much you wanna bet that luke and ashton are throwing a party?" michael asked.
calum groaned. "their asses are grass if that's what's going on," he sighed and he kept his eyes on the road and had one hand on the wheel while the other was making gestures. "they're such assholes sometimes michael. i can't keep up with it. they act like children. and they're older than us. it's so frustrating."
michael nodded. "they're not so bad cal, i just don't think you've warmed up to them. you seem so tense around them."
calum only sighed. the conversation was short lived, and the only noise audible for the rest of the ride home was the soft humming of the car.
upon arriving in the driveway of their home, it all seemed good. calum and michael spared a glance at one another. "maybe they didn't throw. party," michael said.
they both got out of the car and grabbed their suitcases and headed up their stairs.
and upon opening the door, it was a sight for the two humans. it was loud on the inside. michael found it extremely strange that nothing was heard outside, but calum was too enraged to even care about that.
"WHAT THE FUCK!" screamed calum. michael stayed silent and looked around. he was kind of freaked out by all the dead people in his house partying away.
the "WHAT THE FUCK!" was heard throughout the whole house. luke and ashton heard it loud and clear, and their happy cheery expressions from chatting away with louis and harry immediately changed to frightened and embarrassed looks.
"fuck," luke muttered. "i'll, i'll be right back." and with that, luke zoomed through the house to the front door where michael and calum stood, suitcases dropped by their feet, michael aimlessly looking around, to scared to move, and calum with his fist clenched, face looking red under the light, an angry expression drawn across his face.
"luke hemmings, what the fuck did "no throwing parties" mean to you?!" calum yelled. "it was one simple favor mate. ONE SIMPLE FAVOR. i can't even ask you to do anything anymore because it goes right over your goddamn head!"
by now, the whole clan of ghosts (and michael still) were silent and watching the whole ordeal unravel. ashton stood a mere ways away, watching with guilt and embarrassment as his boyfriend was getting scolded, wishing he could go over there and try to fix this whole thing, but he knew he couldn't because he'd just make calum even more mad and he didn't want that to happen.
"uhm, guys," ashton turned to look at some of the ghost party. "i think it'd be best if we ended our night here. so sorry for the inconvenience. it won't happen again. goodnight everyone," and with that, handfuls of ghosts began to leave at once.
louis and harry approached ashton. "hey lad, do you need some help picking up? harold and i don't mind," louis offered.
ashton just shook his head. "thank you for the offer, but there's no need. i'll see you guys soon." they couple nodded and then vanished in plain sight.
meanwhile, at this point, luke was trying to reason with calum. "cal, i, we were just, we wanted to have some fun. we were bored and lonely and we missed you guys, and we also missed our other friends too, we're sorry."
calum didn't reply to that. quite frankly, he thought luke's excuse was bullshit. but he was sick of fighting and yelling and he just wanted to sleep. he saw ashton and stared at him and said, "i want this place spotless by the time i wake up tomorrow." and then he trudged up the stairs and went to bed.
michael still said nothing but dragged his suitcase up the stairs not long after calum, but not before saying, "he only asked for one thing. he's going through a lot guys, all he wants is some respect."
luke and ashton stayed silent after that, and then proceeded to clean all night. their cat, tybalt, came pattering down the steps and helped them clean too, floating around the house and meowing to them to show them a spot they missed. the meows of tybalt were the only sounds heard that rest of the night.
when luke, ashton, and tybalt all went back to the attic to sleep, luke was finding it hard to. he felt so bad, and we wanted to make it up to calum and michael.
then he came up with an idea.
i'll bake him a cake.