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outerspaceisbetterthannothing · 5 years

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My Ultimate Reading List v2.0 Blurbs Part 1

A/N: As some of you have heard or seen, My Ultimate Reading List (in it’s original version) has crashed on desktop because of (as I realised trying to restore it) too big number of links, so I’m basically recreating the whole thing in a new format. This post goes for 1st part of Blurbs. Here’s the 2nd. There’s one more post for One Shots and Serieses. I’m really sorry for the tag notifs for the people who has been tagged already in a previous version. Hope it’s not much of an inconvenience. I’m also not going to delete the first version of the list, as it’s been liked and reposted a lot of times, it’s still working on mobile, so some might still use it. But all the updates are going to happen only on these two posts, which I’m going to put in my bio instead of an old one.

So, this list was created because of my crazy urge to reread favourite fics and blurbs from time to time. It was made purely for me, but if it helps you to find a fic or a writer you’d love, I’d be only happy. I tried to make navigation easy. For blurbs links go to my reblogs, for oneshots and full lengths links go to the original posts. I try to check links from time to time, but if you see that some of them don’t work, please, hmu.

* stands for the implied smut

*** stands for the pure smut

This list is far from finished, that’s just the first things that came to mind and/or were reblogged. Still have a ton to add. So will update it every now and then.

NOTE, pls: There’s no Michael content here! And that’s not because I don’t like him or don’t appreciate him enough. I guess, it’s quite the opposite tbh. There’s no Michael content here because I appreciate him too much. I love this cute little kitten, he’s the most precious soul and, most of the time I think, there would be no 5sos without Michael Gordon Clifford. I just don’t have any fantasies or images of him in me, don’t see him in any way romantically. That’s why I don’t read (or write for that matter) about him as main character. I understand, that I miss a whole lotta great authors and fics because of that. Maybe it’ll change in the future. But for now, it is what it is.

Also HUGE SHOUT OUT TO THE PEOPLE WHOSE WRITING IS ON THE LIST - THANK YOU FOR THIS! THESE FICS AND BLURBS BELOW HAVE REALLY GIVEN ME ALL TYPES OF FEELS, INSPIRATION, MOTIVATION AND CONTENT. I’M FOREVER GRATEFUL FOR THESE WONDERFUL GIFTS YOU GAVE TO ALL OF US.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, WONDERFUL PEOPLE! ALL MY LOVE FOR YOU!

Blurbs

All 4

First responders!5sos series by @calumsendgame and @heartbreak-5sos

Character template, Guys talking girls

Police officer!Ashton First meeting, Meeting under cover, Late night at her apartment part1, part2***, Kitten’s Kitty, Ash being overprotective

Firefighter!Calum Coming home after shift*

Paramedic!Luke Coming home late, Exam preparation

Dad!5sos series by @calumsendgame

Dad!Calum Working at home, Baby boy Hood can’t leave Duke

Ashton

Cashton besties by @myloverboyash [I’m still crying over this]

Farmer!Ashton series by @calumsendgame HeadCanon, Losing the baby, Levi’s at the hospital, Willow’s teenage depression

Pregnant with a werewolf!Ash by @flannelpunkcalum

Valentine’s Day sex*** by @softforcal

Cashton threesome*** by @paqueretteash-deactivated201905

Overstimulation*** by @paqueretteash-deactivated201905

Telling Ash you’re pregnant by @paqueretteash-deactivated201905

Dealing with a teenage daughter by @i-calumhood

Accidental injury by @i-calumhood

Friend to lovers by @myloverboyash

Pregnancy cravings by @i-calumhood

Ashton and Joy by @bringmethehorizonandpizza [second part to Finding Joy]

Cuddle buddies by @i-calumhood

Best friend!Ash staying over under any possible excuse by @i-calumhood

Ash leaves you his clothes before going on tour by @asht0ns-world

Being pregnant with twins by @i-calumhood

You leaving surprises in Ashton’s baggage by @i-calumhood

Ash being nervous about kissing you by @angelbabylu

Ash and his kid missing mommy by @i-calumhood

Ash helping you study by @i-calumhood

Calum

Riding Cal for the first time*** by @i-calumhood

Cal eating you out by @flannelpunkcalum

Your picture on Cal’s home screen* by @softforcal

Giving Cal head while he’s on the phone by @softforcal

Shower sex*** by @i-calumhood

Cashton threesome*** by @paqueretteash-deactivated201905

Calum realising he’s in love by @permntvacaticn

Fighting with Cal by @cakesunflower

Calum comforting you by @honeycombcal

Surgeon!Cal blurb, second one and third from me by @cakesunflower

Stealing his clothes by @sweetcherrylu

Dad!Cal teaching his son to play bass by @paqueretteash-deactivated201905

Cheek kisses by @i-calumhood

Kids cuteness by @i-calumhood

Small kisses by @calumh-excess

Sickness and sex*** by @heartbreak-5sos

Hammock cuddles by @heartbreak-5sos

Wide awake at 1 am by @reallycalum

Hot morning by @i-calumhood

Angry sex*** by @i-calumhood

5am by @saintlaurentcalum

Morning by @cakesunflower

Moving in by @i-calumhood

Duke being protective over your bump by @singt0mecalum

Duke being a cockblock by @i-calumhood

Dad!Cal with your little girl at Disneyland by @c-sainthood

Dad!Cal with shy lil girl by @c-sainthood

Luke making Cal awkwardly confess by @etherealhood

Cal fucking you till you tear up by @flannelpunkcalum

Taking care of Cal when he’s stressed by @i-calumhood

Unrealistic scenarios by @i-calumhood

Hate fuck at college*** by @i-calumhood

Brownies and board games by @rip-lukes-balsamic

Calum confesses he wants an eternity with you by @i-calumhood

Lounging on the couch with Cal and Duke by @calpops

Brining your newborn baby girl home by @sublimehood

Dad!Cal reads to your baby by @c-sainthood

Fuck besties with Cal*** by @flannelpunkcalum

Calum leaving for tour and you’re a mess by @myloverboyash

Dad!Cal, kids and pancakes for mommy by @i-calumhood

Quickie before leaving for the party*** by @sublimehood

You’re drunk and Cal takes care of you while you confess your undying love to him by @i-calumhood

Coming home to Cal and baby sleeping by @c-sainthood

Car sex*** by @i-calumhood

Cal calling you ‘my girl’ by @calvmofficial

Cal taking you backstage from a crowd to fuck*** by @sublimehood

Duke protective over baby hood by @singt0mecalum

Baby hood playing with Duke by @singt0mecalum

Cock warming with Cal*** by @calpops

Clingy Cal by @i-calumhood

Sex with dad!Cal while kids are sleeping*** by @flannelpunkcalum

Jealous fwb Cal and hot bathroom*** by @honeyedhood

Calum wakes you up to go stargaze by @myloverboyash

Fake kisses at the coffee shop by @rip-lukes-balsamic

Talking about marriage and kids by @calpops

Saying the L-word* by @softforcal

Coming home to a sleeping y/n by @nocciolohood

Cuddly Cal by @nocciolohood

Running away from an event to eat french fries by @i-calumhood

Waking up to an empty bedside by @reallycalum and her anonymous

Waking up to a shirtless Cal by @i-calumhood

Cal cooing over his baby daughter by @i-calumhood

Cal kisses you to hide from your ex by @calpops

Sexting Calum by @calteahood

Dad!Cal and kid’s jealousy by @calpops

Dad!Cal and Easter by @i-calumhood

Giving tired Cal massage by @i-calumhood

Cal taking care of baby Hood mama by @i-calumhood

Baby Hood hears 5sos song in a shop by @babe-babylon

Dad!Cal and nightmares by @babe-babylon

Bffs to lovers by @calpops

Clenching on Cal’s tee and one more by @i-calumhood

Cal coming home to you and Duke by @calpops

Jealous Cal by @calpops

Slow sex with Cal*** and one more*** by @flannelpunkcalum

Eloping with Cal by @calpops

Cal holding his daughter for the first time by @i-calumhood

Luke

Calling Luke Buttercup by @i-calumhood

Fake dating by @c-sainthood

Breastfeeding by @i-calumhood

Riding Luke in a bus bunk by @hereforlukescruff

Blowing Luke while he’s in a suit*** by @hereforlukescruff

Post-divorce dad!Lu fluff by @calumh-excess

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morguleth · 4 years

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Can I request some luke fluff please? Maybe you guys in quarantine making tik toks together to send to your friends. Trying to teach him dances in between watching movies, eating, and making out. And of course cuddling with petunia 🥺 thank you!!

Of course!

That’s going to be so much fun to write😍

I hope you won’t mind, if I don’t include the Tik Tok part? I’m not that familiar with the platform, yet alone the dances😅

What about some dancing in general? Hope that’s ok too☺️

It will probably be up on Friday or Saturday, depends on how much work they’ll give me🙃

#lukehemmings #luke hemmings fluff #lukehemmingsimagine #lukehemmingssmut #so excited to write that #petunia #petunia ans luke

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shittyfandomimagines · 5 years

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A Family

I’ve been so sick so I’m sorry for being inactive

Word count: 1,774

Flufffff glalore

GIF creds to owner

“Hey, are you ready to go?” Luke peaked his head into the room. I finished braiding the end of my hair, I pull pieces out of the side. I nod and turn toward him once I’m done, he had a huge grin.

“What?” I ask and he just shakes his head. “You’re just beautiful.” He sighs contently and my heart raced still. Even after a year of marriage and 3 years of dating, he still makes my heart do the thing. “You’re so cute.” I lean up to kiss his cheek. “No stop! This is about you and you look so fucking good.” He twirls me around, my sundress lifting with the wind.

“Okay, we’re going to be late.” I stop myself from indulging in this moment. “Do I look overdressed for a family gathering?” He asks and I look him up and down. “Yes, very. This isn’t the AMA’s babe.” I joke and he sighs, going to the closet.

“Here’s the keys, I’ll meet you down there.” He says and throws the keys to me. “Okay, I’ll lock the front door and you can come out of the garage door,” I say as I leave the room, I was still smiling at his playfulness today.

I sat in the driver's seat, I had already put our

P!ATD cd in the player. Luke opened the driver door abruptly and my heart was freaking dying. “I didn’t say you had to drive, I feel bad now.” He had his arms propped on top of the opening, he was leaning down to match the height difference.

“Why feel bad? I’m a big girl Luke.” I joke and he was basically dragging me to the other side. He closes the door and runs back around. “Because I can’t hold your thigh or hand the same way, it’s not the same when I’m in the passenger seat.” He says as he backs up out of the garage, once he was heading down the Main Street, his hand found its spot on my thigh.

“See, look how well it fits and I didn’t even do it on purpose. I’m a creature of habit.” He shrugs his shoulders but I saw the smirk. “Well, you are a creature, a different one for sure,” I mumble and he grabs my thigh lightly. “Baby got jokes today.” He seethes playfully and I shrug. “Maybe.” I drawled out the last part of the word. “We’re a mess.”

——

“Liz!” I was more excited to see her before Luke, I mean I love this woman. “Babydoll, how are you doing? This guy treating you right?” She asks as she hits Luke’s chest, I laugh. “He’s pretty awful to me,” I say as I stick my tongue out to him. “He better not be, he may be tall now but I’ll whoop his butt.” She jokes along and he pouts.

“My wife of 1 year is already replacing me as favorite.” Luke whines and I smile slyly. “Aw Luke, bold assumption. She’s been my favorite since you brought her home years ago.” She says as she gives him a little pat on the arm before heading toward the kitchen.

“He’s pretty awful to me,” Luke mocks my voice and I laugh loudly, my head going back some. “I’m sorry,” I pout and he turns his cheek to me. “I do not forgive, bye.” He stomps off dramatically towards the kitchen and I knew he was playing with me.

I ignore his little antics and sit beside one of Lukes cousins. “Y/n, it’s been forever! I haven’t seen you since Gabe’s 2nd birthday party!” Melissa hugs me and I hug her back tightly. “Where is he?” I asked excitedly as she looks around. “He ran off somewhere, he’ll be back soon because I have his juice.” She waves it around in her hand and I smile.

“Good, I miss that little monster. He’s almost three, isn’t he?” I ask and she nods. “2 weeks away, he loves talking and dinosaurs.” She explains and my heart erupts. “No way! I’m sorry we haven’t caught up!” I exclaim and she shakes her head.

“Hey, you’ve had an exciting year, I felt bad for missing the wedding but Brody was in England for work while we were staying in the states at that time.” She explains and I nod curtly. “Have you guys moved again?” I ask I knew her husband did a lot of traveling for his job.

“We settled in Sydney, his work signed him here for at least 3 years.” She explains and I squealed. “We need to drink coffee every week, have Gabe over one night so you can enjoy time with Brody. I’m so excited!” I basically yelled. “Me too! I’m ready to be those Instagram girls who post their drinks and kids.” She jokes and I high-five her.

“Mommy! Juice!” Gabe comes running down the hall, I smile widely when I hear his voice. “Gabe, how are you, sweet boy!” I exclaim once he came to me instead of his mom, I sit him in my lap. He started kissing all over my face and I saw Melissa taking pictures. “I miss you!” He hugs my neck and I swear my heart could’ve burst.

“I’ve missed you too, can I come to your birthday? I haven’t seen you in one year!” I squish his little cheeks. “Please? Mommy please?” He looks over to Melissa and she nods with a smile. “Mommy said yes, can you bring Wuke.” The way he said Luke made me giggle some.

“I’ll see if he’ll come with me, sometimes he’s a really silly boy.” I joke and he belly laughs. “Can you play outside with me?” He changed the subject and I stand up with him in my arms.

I walk to the backyard with him, putting him down right in front of the door. He goes running outside and I knew I couldn’t keep up. “Y/n come on!”

I go running to the swings that Liz set up months ago for Jacks kids. I sit on one beside his and we swing in rhythm, he was still giggling and making me happy.

I absolutely love kids! I babysat for years and I just needed children around me constantly. I even went into child psychology because I knew I wanted to help kids.

Before I know it, Gabe was on to the next game. He grabbed my hands and just pulled at them as a sign to get up. When I stand, he was pulling me towards the empty spot of grass.

He only wanted to dance and it made me smile, we were spinning around happily. I’d grab his hands and dance with him some. I would do a lot to make sure that the smile was still there.

A loud knock at the door made us both jump in fright, I look over and Luke’s huge frame was at the door. He made a motion that it was time to eat. I tell Gabe as I took his hand and led him outside, Luke had already disappeared.

“Gabe let’s wash our hands first before we eat.” I softly demand, he goes into the bathroom first. I boost him up so I could help him wash his hands. It was so adorable when he started to sing the ABCs to time his washing.

He runs out as I wash my hands, I dry them off and turn off the light. I step out and a yell accompanied by a tight grip made me yelp. “Luke!” I punch his chest and he was laughing harder than he should’ve. “Baby, I’m sorry.” He said while laughing like it made his apology more sincere?

“I hate you.” I shake my head and start to walk past him, but his grip stops me. “Can we talk for a second?” My heart dropped slightly because his mood changed quickly.

“Yeah babe, spill it.” I take both his hands in mine. He was slowly pulling us toward the backdoor, we stop on the porch part. “I need to know something, not in a bad way at all.” He calmed my nerves a little.

He gave me a soft look before stepping closer to me, his arm around my waist lightly. “You love kids, right?” He asks shyly and it made me laugh. “Well it is my day job plus you already know I love kids. What’s gotten into you today?” I ask and push his wild curls back some.

“I mean would you love kids with me?”

I started to think of a miniature Luke, girl or boy, running down the hall with the attitude of his. Their curls bouncing as the jump up and down when Luke comes home from work. Him singing them to sleep or calm them down. The way he’d love them, it made my heart prance.

“You’ve got that silly grin on your face babygirl, are you about to mock me?” He asks sadly and I shake my head.

“Luke, I was thinking of our kids and how much love you’d give them. Of course, I’d have kids with you, we’re married and god I’m the luckiest to have you. But if I had the chance to have your kids, see your love for them, and experience that, God I’d give anything.” I caress his cheekbones.

“Really?” I nod to him. “Luke, I love you and we’re married. I couldn’t imagine loving anyone else but our children. Why wouldn’t I want your kids?” I ask and he chuckles.

“See when I think of the reasoning, it sounds so dumb. It’s just that we’ve never talked about it and I’ve wanted a family with you for a long time. So when I saw you with Gabe, I knew I couldn’t wait any longer to ask.” He admits and I lean up to kiss his lips softly.

“I’d be honored to make a family with you, just as long as you can handle the hormones.” I kid with him and he pecks my lips softly. “I think I can handle it, I mean it’ll be worth it in the end.” He kisses me again.

I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him once more, he pushes my body into his. He tries to make the kisses rougher but I push him away. “We’re not trying for a family here, maybe later. C’mon, they’re gonna start asking questions.” I tug his arm and he groans. “Fine!”

“Wait one more.” He says before turning me to him again, kissing my lips quickly, I smiled.

“What a dork.”

hey guys so so I have a Redbubble account and I’m really trying to sell stuff, if I put it on here would anyone be interested. If not I’m sorry for this horrible promotion

#luke hemmings #lukehemmings #luke hemmings imagines #lukehemmingsimagines #luke hemmings blurb #lukehemmingsblurb #luke hemming masterlist #lukehemmingsmasterlist #luke hemmings fluff #5sos writing #5sos blurbs #5sos imagines #5sos masterlist #5sosblurbs #5sosimagines #5sosmasterlist

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smoochcal · 5 years

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numb without you (part two)

a/n: this is part two (2/???) of numb without you!! please refer to part one to follow the timeline correctly. I really haven’t written something along the lines of this in a very long time, so I am very thankful for every single one of you that have read, liked and reblogged this series already. feel free to message me about any blurbs you want me to write or talk about on here :) with that being said please enjoy part two of numb without you

pairing: readerxluke (and calum lmao)

word count: 2.3k

summary: three months down the road from the night you spent with luke and calum at the club and you have to figure out what to do / movie night with luke

playlist: numb without you by the maine & intoxicated by the cab

rating: PG-13

warnings: swearing, mention of a hookup, mention of blood

----------------------

Y/N’s POV:

You inhale and exhale slowly, trying to focus on everything but what you are currently buying at the drug store around the corner from your place. This is the absolute last place you wanted to be. Nothing against the drug store, you have spent many late nights grabbing last minute snacks and groceries you had either forgotten at the store previously or things here and there that were more convenient to pick up there. You feel your cheeks get warm the minute you put your item on the counter. The elder woman checking you out gives you a look of disappointment that you try not to take to heart considering that she probably had kids at an age much younger than you are right now. You give her the money for the box and head back home to take the test.

As you sit on the floor of your bathroom with the door locked you sigh trying to remember exactly how you got here. It’s been about three months since your drunken hookup with Calum occurred and since then you have missed your period twice. This normally wouldn’t be a big deal, but you are always regular like down to the hour and you thought skipping one was abnormal let alone two. And if we’re being honest, you were scared shitless. You’re hardly 22, you can’t be a mom. You aren’t ready for that responsibility; you killed your last goldfish within the span of a week last year.

But maybe you don’t have to worry about this all just yet. The timer on your phone reads that you have a minute and a half left until you can check the pregnancy test that is resting on your bathroom counter next to the sink. Maybe you’re just under a lot of stress and that is what is causing your periods to be extremely late. I mean you have been under a lot of stress at your job. You have had about fifteen manuscripts sitting on your desk at work since the beginning of this week. You have been busting your ass to get them done in time, working late every day hoping that you wouldn’t have to take any of them home with you for the weekend so your edits can be done and on your boss’s desk bright and early Monday morning. It’s Thursday evening now and the thought of trying to get things done is sitting heavily on your shoulders. Just as your mind starts to drift off to other things the timer on your phone goes off indicating that it is time to check the test.

Positive.

You blink a couple times, quickly trying to keep the tears forming in the brim of your eyes away from your line of sight. You’re pregnant. You can’t even begin to comprehend the little lines staring back at you. There are two other tests in the box. You quickly unwrap them and go to take them both. This can’t be happening. It has to be a false positive. Those happen, right? What are you going to tell your mom? She already thinks it’s a bad idea for you to be living in a small apartment in the middle of LA by yourself. You can’t expect her to be overjoyed that you are going to have a baby out of wedlock. You set the timer on your phone again, which is a seemingly difficult task considering you are now shaking.

You wait the few minutes until both tests are ready. This wait seems longer than the last, fear boiling inside of you causing you to worry ten times more than you previously were. This can’t be happening. It was one night, one mistake.

The timer goes off for a second time and you slowly get up off your bathroom floor and check the other two tests.

Positive.

Fuck.

What are you going to do?

-------------------------------------------

{three hours later}

Your phone rings. You hate yourself for picking “Intoxicated” by The Cab as your ringtone as you glance at the Caller ID. Quickly you wipe your tears and clear your throat and answer the phone.

“Hello?” you choke out, your emotions not doing the best job at hiding themselves in your tone.

“Y/N, what’s up? Why do you sound like you’ve been crying?” Luke asks concerningly.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it,” you respond quickly, hoping he would change the subject before more tears spill out.

“If you say so…anyway I was calling to ask if you wanted to have a movie night tonight, but if it’s a bad time I can let you go…” he replies tentatively.

“No no you can come over it’s fine,” you say hoping this conversation will end sooner than it started.

“Okay, I’ll be there in 10,” he says quickly before hanging up.

You sigh the second he hangs up. You don’t want anything to seem out of the ordinary, so you quickly compose yourself. A few deep breaths seem to do the trick for the time being. You grab the tests from your bathroom counter and throw them away in the trash can, putting some toilet paper in the bin to cover them up. As you finally exit the bathroom you take another deep breath, holding back the tears that are threatening to spill onto your cheeks purely because of the stress you are now under.

You tidy up your place as fast as you can, knowing Luke could knock on your door at any minute. You don’t worry about what movie you will watch or how he is going to try to pry this secret out of you, you only focus on the then and now in order to keep your composure. Just as you fold the last blanket and set it on top of the couch, you hear a knock on your front door. You know it is Luke by the way he knocks, softly 3 times, and you open the door without even looking at who is behind it. Luke smiles as soon as he lays his soft blue eyes on you. He follows you to the kitchen where you went to find some snacks to make when he picks you up and spins you around throwing you over his shoulder.

“Luke!” you exclaim, laughing ever so slightly, “put me downnnnn.”

“Fine, but only because you asked OH so nicely,” Luke responds sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he puts you down, plopping on the nearest chair as he watches you move about the kitchen.

You look through your cupboards and refrigerator and finally decide on making some nachos for the two of you to share. You grab the ingredients and all the things you know he likes on his nachos; I mean the two of you are best friends after all, and you throw your masterpiece into the microwave to heat up. Luke seems to have a careful eye on you particularly tonight and you can’t tell if it is due to the conversation the two of you had on the phone earlier or if it was because of something else. Maybe he has always looked at you this way, but now you are extra paranoid because of the new information you found out in the bathroom a few hours prior to his arrival.

When the nachos are ready you grab the plate and a couple of napkins and sit on the couch as Luke paws through your extensive movie collection. You swear he is taking his sweet time picking a movie when he finally decides on one of your favorite comedic dramas, Life as We Know It. He puts the DVD into the DVD player, grabs the remotes and finds a blanket before sitting next to you. He covers both of your legs with the blanket and presses play while grabbing a nacho from the plate in your hands. And if everything hadn’t crashed and burned earlier today, all would seem right in the world.

About an hour into the movie Luke asks you to pause it because he has to use the bathroom, you think nothing of it knowing he has a tiny bladder and a short attention span and normally can’t sit through a two hour movie without asking you to stop it at least one. You finish the last of the nachos and get up to put the dish in the sink and grab a water for you and your apparently already overhydrated friend. You and Luke both get back to the couch at the same time and you get settled back where you were. Just as you are about to press play on the remote, Luke looks at you quizzically, causing you to wonder what is on his mind.

“Well are you going to say something or are you just going to give me that dumbass look you wear so well?” you ask as he continues to stare at you.

Luke sighs before speaking, “I mean… do you want to tell me why I found this empty box of pregnancy tests on the floor next to the toilet?”

You look at him like a deer caught in headlights. How could you be so stupid as to leaving the box in the bathroom? What are you going to tell him, the truth? That you had sex with his best friend over three months ago and now you’re 99% positive that you are pregnant with said friend’s child? This is too much for just another movie night.

You begin to form the words you want to say when Luke goes on, “Not to mention the three positive pregnancy tests in your trash poorly hidden under some wadded-up toilet paper. I knew you were hiding something but this? This is a lot, Y/N. When did this happen? Why did this happen? Who’s the father? Does he know yet? Does your mom know yet? What are you going to do?”

“Well,” you start taking a deep breath knowing you don’t have a lot of the answers he’s looking for, “if you’re asking what’s up, apparently I’m pregnant which I only found out a few hours ago. I didn’t necessarily want to hide it from you, but I barely have an explanation for all of this myself let alone an explanation for someone else. I’m assuming this happened a few months ago. Fun fact I haven’t been bleeding like I’m supposed to, and I know you hate when I mention all that girlie stuff but it’s true. I was drunk when this hookup happened and you’re going to hate me even more when I tell you all the details. The father does not know yet and neither does my mother. Honestly you’re the only one besides myself that knows right now and I’m scared out of my fucking mind.”

Luke opens his mouth lie he is about to say something then closes it as he continues to think. You take this opportunity to just bite the bullet and tell him what really happened.

“Remember that night where we all went out to that club you like? Me, you, the guys, their girlfriends and the few strays they must have conjured up along the way? I really didn’t want to go out that night, but I owed you one, so I went. The club was not my scene at all. Too loud, too many people, not enough air circulating around the dancefloor. I stepped out to catch my breath and found Calum smoking outside. We got to talking, and you know how much he gets under my skin sometimes. This time was different though, it was more playful, which made it easier to have a real conversation with him. We talked and one thing led to another and I woke up the next morning with only his ratty drop-dead t-shirt on while sleeping in a unfamiliar yet familiar enough bed. And all I can say now is that I’m sorry. I’m really fucking sorry, Luke. I know he is one of your best friends and I’m one of your best friends. I wasn’t thinking and I lied to you saying I took an uber home and got there not even twenty minutes after stepping out of the club. God, I’m so sorry.” You burst into tears towards the last sentence you spoke, knowing this is the worst you have ever hurt him.

“How could you?” He softly asked as he slowly got up from the couch grabbing his wallet, phone and keys heading out of your apartment. You could tell how broken he was, finally comprehending the madness.

The minute he walked out of your apartment it was like a bomb just exploded in your own living room. The blanket only covering half of your body, the remotes sprawled out on the cushion where he was sitting just a moment ago. Your life is slowly falling apart right before your own two eyes and there is nothing you can do about it except cry. The tears flow and flow, creating a damp spot on the blanket below you. Your sobs echoing throughout the otherwise silent apartment. You want to call Luke; you want to call your best friend and ask him to come back just to hold you and tell you everything is okay. But you shouldn’t and you won’t. You have hurt him enough for today. Instead you allow the sobs to take over your body, feeling completely and utterly lost.

And just when you think you could not cry another tear, Intoxicated plays quietly from your phone perched on the other end of the couch. You grab it quickly praying that it was Luke calling to say he is outside your door waiting to come back in and be there for you. You check the caller ID and see that it is not who you expected it to be, not in the slightest. Your phone read one name that hurt so much you could hardly stand it.

Calum.

#luke #Luke hemmings #Luke hemmings blurb #Luke hemmings imagine #luke blurb #Luke imagine #5sos blurb #5sos imagine #lukehemmings #Luke hemmings fluff #5sos fluff #numb without you #jules writes #calum hood #5sos #5 seconds of summer #5 seconds of summer imagine #5 seconds of summer blurb #best friend!luke

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backtotheshitshow · 3 years

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Though the stories are fiction, the happiness, anger, confusion, physical heartache and ever tear I shed, are real. and although the people in these stories don't know I exist, or aren't even real, to me...

they were my first loves and first heartbreaks. For them there will always be a special place in my heart.

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hollandsmushroom · 5 years

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I Miss You

Heyo yet another piece of work dedicated to @heartbreak-5sos cause, ya know, they give a lot of inspiration!!

Word Count: 1,298

Summary: You have been missing Luke and text him while he is at the studio, after receiving the text he decides to surprise you

Warnings: Soft Fluff but thats not something to warn about so no

Luke was at the studio recording and you were at home, in sweatpants and a baggy shirt, watching some shit show on tv. You and Luke had seemed to be in two different worlds as of late, and it wasn’t that you were in anyway questioning his love for you because, he still held you close at night, you might just have already been asleep for 3 hours when he joins you, he still eats the food that you make so he doesn’t microwave eggs, he might just have to heat it up after its gone cold. You just missed him, thats all, no doubt had crept into your mind, it was just a longing to have the man that you love with you. And tonight you didn’t want to fall asleep before he got home, you wanted to spend time with him,it had been so long, but you were worried that like the last few nights, you would try and stay up to talk to him but end up asleep on the couch and have Luke carry you up to your shared bed. You wanted to tell him about your need for his presence at the moment, but you also really didn’t want to interrupt the great work that he was doing. You resorted to a simple text, the three words that could be interpreted in many ways depending on how you read them, desperate, loving, needy, clingy. The text read a simple ‘I miss you’, followed quickly by a ‘I know you probably wont see this until much later tonight, I will try and stay up to wait for you, but Petunia is much better at doing that than I am’ and a final ‘I love you’. You shut off your phone, with the disappointing belief that you would once again fall asleep on the couch waiting on your love, looming over your head.

-----

Luke was sitting outside the recording booth, spinning in one of the chairs that sat behind the sound board, looking at his phone when it buzzed in his hand.

His nickname for you appeared on the screen followed by three words, the three words that broke his heart to read, the ones that he never wanted for you to have to say, especially when he wasn’t on tour. The text was quickly replaced with more words from you, an attempted promise at staying up to see him. As quickly as they had arrived the words were replaced by another set, the three words that still made his heart skip a beat knowing that it was you sending them, it made him glow from the inside and a smile crack across his face at the fact that someone as amazing as you, loved him.

He stood up from his chair, shrugging his jacket onto his shoulders, having decided to surprise you,

“Hey, mate, where the fuck do you think you’re going?” Calum called through the speaker of the recording booth, Luke turned around quickly at his bandmates words, leaning down and pressing the button on the microphone at his end.

“To see Y/n, they need me right now, and if I am being honest, I need them as well,”

“Okay then, mate, see ya tomorrow,” Cal called after him as Luke walked out the door. Bending his tall ass down to get into his car and start to make his way back home to you.

----

You were sat on the couch, still watching the shit tv show, nursing a very large mug of tea, Petunia sprawled across your legs fast asleep as you slowly started to drift off to sleep. You thought you heard a key in the door but assumed it was a part of your dream because Luke couldn’t possibly be home.

You stayed that way, your head lolled to the side and eyes closed, that was until you felt the couch dip next to you, your eyes shot open and your head turned at the speed of whiplash to meet his crystal blue ones. You tried to reach over for him but Petunia whined at your sudden movement, the weight of her body holding you down. Luke chuckled at your eagerness to see him, and looking in your eyes he realized just how much he had truly missed you and how desperate he was just to hold you in his arms while you were awake.

“Hi babe,” he spoke

“Luke, what are you doing home, aren’t you supposed to be at the studio?” you spoke, finally wiggling your way out from underneath the bulldog terrier and into Luke’s arms, your legs on either side of him and face buried in his neck.

“I got your text, I realized how distant I have been lately and I wanted to come home and just cuddle and remind you how much I love you and need you in my life,” removing you face from the crook of his neck you returned to looking in his eyes.

“I love you Luke, I love you so goddamn much,” leaning in, you placed a tender kiss to his lips. You stayed this way for a while, your lips moving in sync with his, not getting more heated, just more loving and tender, it was slow and intentional, the way his hands moved there way up and down your sides, finding a final resting place on your hips. Your hands were splayed on his chest, spread wide as your finger tips pressed into is chest lightly, reminding yourself that he was here, and he was yours to love on forever.

His lips left yours as he started to readjust, moving his hips slightly and hooking his arms underneath your thighs he stood up, you securely in his arms, making his way to the bed the two of you shared. He laid you down, joining you very soon after he had removed his button down and pants.

He hopped on the bed, taking his place next to you, pulling you closer to him so you were face to face. He ducked down into the crook of your neck, placing feather light kisses there.

“I missed you too Y/n, so fucking much,” he mumbled into the hot flesh of your neck, his lips becoming harsher as he started to suck on the skin. The feeling was strong and you knew he was leaving marks on your there, he loved to do so and you groaned at the feeling. You knew you would have purple bruises all over your neck tomorrow, but you really didn’t care, you just wanted to be with him, to hold him in your arms and remind yourself that he loved you as much as you loved him. You pulled him closer, running your hands through his hair, playing with the curls at the nape of his neck.You could have stayed this way forever, lost in each other, so involve that nothing mattered, the heat of intimacy without sex filled the room. Much to your disappointment his lips left your neck as he kissed his way back up your neck, running his tongue along your jawline and back to your lips, reattaching his lips to your similarly swollen ones as your tongues fell into their familiar dance against one another. The passion in the moment was evident but so was the exhaustion in the both of you. His body was giving into the peace of relaxation that kissing you gave him and yours was doing the same. Slowly the both of you faded off to sleep, mouths having fell apart from one another, but your body still held tight in his arms, as though holding you so closely could make up for all the missing the two of you had been doing.

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5secsofsomewhere · 5 years

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Its a Small Town part 1- Luke Hemmings

The halls were filled with students, from the senior pot heads, to the sophomore cheerleaders, and the scared freshman. They were all there. She walked the halls with her head down and headphones in hoping to make it to AP Biology without pissing someone off. It was the first day of the new school year, and Junior year was going to be hell for her and the other 100 kids in her grade. College applications were to be completed this year which means you have to be on top of everything. She made her way in to the classroom and immediately migrated towards the back. She wasn’t a loser, but kept a closer circle of friends none of which were in this class.

The bell sounded and more kids made their way in until all the desk were full. She didn’t even take notice of the boy next to her knowing it would only be a couple minutes until they were moved to their assigned seats.

Mrs. Mugally stood up, she was a small lady with short orange-gray hair and bangle bracelets lining up her left arm but none on the right in addition to a large floral kimono on over her striped dress. Thus began the classic first day of school speech about how her class is not a joke and no out of line behavior will be tolerated.

“Now I hope you have all chosen seat wisely because that is where you will be stuck for the first semester. Your first assignment is to turn to your partner and discuss what moved you to select my class.”

shit shit shit shit

That was all that ran through her mind as she turned to her right and saw the Luke Hemmings sitting next to her. Now if it was any of the other boys in the class she wouldn’t of cared but for him she did.

“Hi I’m Luke.” He stuck out his hand to shake hers as the other raked through his hair.

“Charlotte.” She responded, quickly shaken his hand. See it’s not specifically Luke that she has a problem with it’s his girlfriend, Melissa. If she found out they ended up next to each other, technically, by choice then she’ll ruin Charlotte’s life. Again.

“So” Luke started dragging out the o’s, “What made you take this thrilling class?” She could practically taste the sarcasm that dripped from his question as he shoots her a smirk.

“I wanted the AP credit, colleges like that. Plus I want to be a doctor one day.” Charlotte looked him in the eyes as she answered, the first time she has all morning and noticed how they lit up when she mentioned being a doctor.

“Thats so cool that you know what you want to be, I have no fucking clue what I’m going to do.” He let out a dry chuckle and looked down almost as though he was embarrassed. Until Charlotte let out a small giggle and knocked his shoulder playfully with hers.

“Oh come on Mr. Football Star you really have no clue what you want to do” She asked referencing him making Varsity as only a freshman years ago, he was predicted to go all state. Best player their small town has seen in a while.

He shook his head, “Nah, Iove football and I would love to play in college but it can get kinda crazy ya know?” Again he ran his hand through his hair and shook it out. “Like going from a town like this to some big shot university, on top of the stress of playing?” He slowly shook his head and migrated his gaze back to the desk where he focused on picking at the letters somebody had carved in years ago.

Charlotte eyes also drifted away from him, except hers was to the whiteboard at the front of the room. She never would have guessed that the popular football captain was scared to go to school, him and the people he hangs out with seem as though they have it all together. The sound of students zipping up their backpacks pulled her from her thoughts.

As she followed their lead and shoved her still empty bio binder back into her bag she felt a tap on her shoulder. After sealing her bag shut Charlotte turned her attention behind her to Luke. He nervously played with his fingers and took a deep breathe before looking her in the eyes.

“Look, I’ve never really talked to anyone about the whole college thing like today. People seem to think they’ve got me figured out, but you didn’t make any kind of comment when I told you so thanks, I guess. Do you um think that I could like get your number?” The nervous boy watched as confusion washed over the young girls face “You know, for this class. We sit next to each other now and it might be useful.”

Luke began panicking, it took a couple seconds until Charlotte grew a smile on her face and he really thought that she was going to make fun of him. Instead she grabbed the pen and binder out of his hands and opened it. After quickly scribbling down the seven digits she closed the binder and handed it back to him as the bell rang.

“See you around Hemmings.” She said over her shoulder as she made her way out the door and blended with the sea of students.

Im sorry I know this part is short but just bare with me this was the first meeting was important and a lot of things will rap back to thing.

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honeybee-hannahh · 5 years

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Without you | Calum Hood

Summary: Calum helps you clean up your childhood house, after your mom passes away.

Warnings: Mentions death of a parent.

Word Count: 2k

Author’s note: Flash backs are in italics.

“Am I speaking with Lisa’s daughter?” a cold voice asked from the other end of a phone call “yes this is her, can I ask who is calling?” you asked hesitantly “I am your mother’s doctor here at Penrose Hospital in California, we are calling to inform you that your mother's condition has worsened and we think it would be best if you came in so we could talk about the next step.” your stomach dropped you immediately knew what he meant, while she hadn't been sick for long, you knew she wasn’t getting any better but you never expected it to happen this fast.

You were there the day she passed away, in the bleak hospital room, surrounded by a few friends. No longer sure if she could still hear you, but you always stayed. You watched as she took her last breath. It had been less than two months, since you had found out she was sick. You never knew just how sick she was until the day you came home and found her passed out barely breathing. Your breathing stopped as you raced for your phone dialing 911 before you even had a second thought. And now less than two months later she was gone. Just like that everything changed.

Death comes as a shock, and is almost never expected in someone who is only 48 years old. You spent the next month in bed, hardly moving to shower or eat, unless Calum forced you to. You felt empty, numb, everyday felt like a thousand without her. You never thought that at 21 you would be motherless.

“Are you sure you’re ready to do this?” Calum asked squeezing your hand lightly “you can take a few more days love.” you close your eyes taking a deep breath, it had been a month since you had been outside of the house Calum and you shared “no I’m ready, I need to do this.” you took a step towards the front door of your childhood house, your hands shaking as you reached for your keys to unlock the bright red door. You stood in the doorway of the house, letting the memories rush back to you.

*7 years ago* “Calum did you take my phone?” you yelled tearing the living room apart, all you could hear as a response was him laughing which was more than you needed to hear, to know that he had taken it. You rolled your eyes walking into the kitchen “Jason said he can’t wait to see you again, sweetheart.” he mocked sticking his tongue out. “Not funny Cal,” you reached for your phone taking it out of Calum's hands. “Ew why is it so warm?” you yelled almost dropping it onto the kitchen counter, Calum laughed holding his sides, “you did not put it down your pants again.” he shrugged “you’re so gross.” you yelled lunging for him.

You could feel the tears start to well in your eyes, Calum lightly placed his hand on your shoulder snapping you out of your thoughts. “Are you okay?” he questioned “yeah, - yeah sorry, I just we have so many memories here. I mean I grew up in this house, my whole childhood is within these walls,” you took a few steps inside running your hand along the wall it had been almost a year since you were here last “I fell in love with you inside this house.” You stopped walking to turn and look at Cal who had been looking at the pictures that were hanging on the walls now covered in a thin layer of dust. “You will always have these memories my love, they will always be with you when you need them the most. Just like your mom will always be with you from now on, she’ll always be right by your side. ” he wrapped his arms around your shoulders holding you tightly against his chest, you let your head loll back against him, allowing yourself to relax for a moment. “Do you remember when we bought jiffy pop and burned it on the shove,” he asked, you let a soft laugh fall from your lips “I had never seen your mom so mad before, the house smelt like burnt popcorn all night.” “You know she never let me cook popcorn on the stove after that night, i honestly don’t think she trusted me to cook ever again.” You smiled thinking back at the fond memories that this house held.

You ran your hand along the smooth wall of your childhood bedroom, the bright blue paint was cool to the touch, you begged your mom when you were 13 to paint it anything other than the god awful hot pink color it had been.

“Mom please I’m a teenager now and I don’t like pink anymore it’s such a baby color and I want to have a cool room, please pretty please.” you must have begged her on end for weeks before she agreed to finally let you paint your room blue. You never knew there were so many different shades of blue, the first day you both went to the paint store you couldn’t pick one single color, you must have come home with at least 10 different shades of blue. “Cal do you think deep sky blue or do you think cornflower would look better?” you had narrowed it down to your two favorite shades, “I think they look exactly the same.” he mumbled distracted by the video game he was currently playing, you lightly pushed his shoulder, “pick one please I can’t make up my mind.” You pouted handing him the paint samples. “Cornflower.” he said simply before turning his attention back to the video game.

You sat down on the cold wood floor opening the drawer to your night stand, you started filling the box next to you with memories you pulled out a large stack of polaroids, letting the memories of unforgettable nights flood your mind. Countless notebooks filled with poems, and stories of how you thought my life would be, books you started to write but never finished. You closed the first box placing the tape along the top. Calum knocked lightly on the door, making you jump slightly, “I found something I think you’ll want to see.” he gave you a small smile and offered his hand helping you up. “I was wrapping up the pictures from the living room and I found these.” he handed you a stack of cards, your breath caught in your throat, you knew what they were, it was every card your mom had written you from my first birthday all the way up until your most recent 21st birthday, you moved back towards the couch collapsing completely, letting your tears fall freely for the first time that day. “I can’t believe she kept them all.” Your voice was hardly a whisper as your body shook. Calums strong arms wrapped around you, holding you as if he was trying to put all your pieces back together. “Every year she would make sure to mail my card to our house so that I would feel special, when it came. When I moved out she refused to send me a card, told me that I could have it the next time I saw her, I always thought she just wanted to see me more. I didn’t know she was keeping them this whole time.” Your hands shook as you opened each card, almost as if you were scared that the wrong touch would cause the cards to fall apart in your hands, You carefully read and reread each message that was perfectly handwritten in cursive. Calum’s hand lightly wiped the tears from my cheeks.

“I think that was the last box love.” Calum said walking towards you, “it’s so empty, Cal.” Your legs dangle over the edge of the island, eyes scanning the bare room, that once held so much life and joy but now only held sadness of what used to be. You watched Calum as he walked around the now empty kitchen, taking everything in as if he was trying to commit every detail to memory, this might have been your childhood house but Calum spent so much time here when you both were kids, it’s almost like his second home. It can be hard to make a house feel like a home, but your mom never failed to welcome every single person into her home. You still remember when you told her about Calum and yourself dating, you had never seen her so happy, she always thought that Calum was the kindest and most respectful young man. He will always treat you right, I know he will, she told you the first time she saw Calum and yourself together she told you the way she knew he loved you, was in the way that he looked at you, even when you were just simply talking. He never takes his eyes off of you, she told you.

Calum and you stood outside of your childhood house for the second time that day. The moving van had long left, filled with boxes of clothes, books, pictures, and other various items that you had found while cleaning out the old house. Calum's arm was lightly draped around your shoulder as him and you stood there. You smiled as a tear ran down your cheek, “I miss her,” the tears burned your tired eyes as you ran your hand through your hair, “god, I thought I was ready for this. I thought I was ready for everything to change, I’m not ready to accept that she’s actually gone.” you let out a shaky breath. “She was such an amazing person, she would have given you the shirt off of her back, she always had a way of making people listen and understand what she was saying. It’s not fair that, it’s not fair that she’s gone.” you shook my head “It should have been me.” you mumbled, Calum moved standing in front of you, lifting your chin lightly so that you looked him in the eyes. “No it shouldn’t have been, it’s hard to see that right now, I know the guilt of surviving when you think you could have done so much more is overwhelming. But you did everything you could have done, you spent more time in her hospital room and with her doctors that you did at home. You did everything you could do and more.” “It doesn’t feel like I did, I feel like I could have done something else.” You looked down at your hands, playing with the ring on your right index finger. “It’s okay to feel that way right now, but you have to understand that you did everything possible to help her.” Calum said reaching for your hand, giving it a soft squeeze. In that moment it was almost as if time had frozen, the way everything stood still,the wind stopped blowing and not a single car passed as we stood outside the house. You don’t know how you got so lucky as to have Calum in your life. He was your best friend from the first moment you met him, he had stayed with you though so much never giving up on you or us for that matter. You don’t know where or even if you would be here without him but one thing that you knew for sure was that your mom was right when she said Calum loved you.

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cosagach · 5 years

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Moving In

summary: After complaining to Ashton about your weird roommate, he decides to have you move in with him

Word count: 704

This is my first ever writing, just be easy on me okay.

Warnings: None

You and Ashton had been together for about three years now. Of course, it was hard with him being on tour and you being a busy college student but you two always seemed to make it work.

You and Ashton had decided to take the day off considering you had finished with all of your finals. You were complaining to him about your roommate when out of the blue he asks "Why dont you just move in with me?".

It had taken you off guard considering the bluntness of his statement, but you didn't deny that it was a bad idea. You always wondered if he would ask you to move in, you just never really thought it would happen considering both of your busy schedules.

"Y/N?" he asks, snapping you out of your train of thought. You look up at him with cheerful eyes as you nod your head in agreement, excited of the adventures you two would have now living together.

It was finally the day that you had been waiting for weeks. After letting the head of the school board know that you wouldn't be staying in the dorms anymore, you immediately started to pack your stuff into carefully organized boxes. Packing was tiring of course, but lugging them to the car was another story. Ashton was so busy at home prepping his soon to be a shared place for your hoard of things, that there was no one around to help you bring the heavy boxes to your car.

After what felt like hours, you had finally loaded the oversized boxes to your car. While going back to your old dorm to check if anything was left behind you received a text from Ashton. Hey babe, just finished getting ready, do you need any help? Love you! You groaned loudly. "Couldn't have sent that sooner huh?" you muttered to yourself as you got into your car.

The drive to your new house was filled with nervous excitement although you had stayed over at your boyfriends' house many times before. You anxiously got out of your car to see Ashton already waiting at the steps of place. Although you had been there many times before, the beauty of his house always surprised you. For such an outgoing guy, Ashton's' house was very simplistic and always very well organized as well as clean.

"Welcome home baby!" Ashton said as you approached him with your dog trying to rip your arm off. Once your dog had finally calmed down, you engulfed Ashton in a hug thanking him numerous times.

Unpacking with Ashton went much faster than you had anticipated seeing that in the beginning he would get distracted by every one of your little trinkets. Having a free reign over the house was a mistake. You had taken over the house putting everything you owned where his awards and trophies had once been.

The day passed quickly due to all the fun you two were having and before you knew it you were laying in bed next to Ashton surrounded by boxes you two hadn't bothered to push to the floor. "Thank you again ash, I mean you really didn't need to let me live with you."

"I've been waiting to ask you for a while now, I just never really thought you'd agree to be honest."

"Please, I'd agree to anything that would get me away from my creepy roommate." you laughed.

"She seemed nice enough. I dont know what your problem is," Ashton replied. Your roommate had seemed nice enough when you first met her, but over the year you had lived with her she became progressively weirder. First, she started to stay up later which hadn't bothered you until you found her watching you sleep. let's just say your doors stayed locked from then on.

"She watched me sleep ash, that's not at all creepy to you?"

"I watch you sleep sometimes," he said

"Ashton you're my boyfriend, that's not weird, but college roommates are."

"I get it. I'm just glad your here, with me."

"Me too ash," you said getting sleepy "love you."

"Love you too sweetheart," Ashton mumbled as your eyes swiftly shut bringing you into a deep sleep.

#5sos lockscreen #calum 5sos #imagine #ashton irwin #calum 5 seconds of summer #calum hood #calum thomas hood #ashton fletcher irwin #ashton fluff #ashton 5 seconds of summer #michael 5sos #luke 5sos #luke hemmings #luke hemmings 5sos #5sos #lukehemmings #michael clifford

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outerspaceisbetterthannothing · 5 years

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Blame [Surgeon!Calum AU] Ch.6

Summary: What do you do if the only person you feel the connection to is the person you blamed for your sibling’s death?

Warnings: none, this one is actually cute (but don’t worry, drama is coming lmao)

Huge shout out to my wonderful sunflower and pure angel @myloverboyash who helped me with proof reading and tolerated my whining in her dm’s.Thank you so so so so much,Skyler! I don’t know what I’d do without you! 🌻❤️️🌻

Feedback is highly appreciated. Enjoy!

Chapter 6

Annabelle was rushing through the streets of New York, being unusually late. Cloudy weather of early October left her in a gloomy state of mind, and she was wincing every time chilly wind hit her. Her mood was jumpy and it seemed like anything could set her off, from her not warm enough jacket to the slowly passing people. The relief she felt when could finally see the bar entrance was almost ridiculous.

The warmth enveloped her as she came inside, making her tense muscles relax a bit. It wasn’t difficult to see her friends, they’d occupied the biggest table at a corner. Jo was sitting opposite Bryan, who came to town for the weekend, and judging by their expressions, her best friend and her boyfriend were at each other’s throats again. Allie was sitting with her face to the entrance, Max, who also decided to come from Boston for a couple of days, was really close to her. They both looked like they were trying to be as far from the arguing couple as possible, still staying at the same table with them. And Annabelle couldn’t blame them for that, she knew how Jo and Bryan had no control in insulting each other. For a mere second Anna had the terrible thought of just stepping back out to the chilly evening street, and text them she can’t make it because of some lame excuse and free herself from dealing with them. But the next moment Allie’s face lit up with a smile, as she noticed Anna. Annabelle smiled back and started to make her way to their table.

“Hey, guys, sorry, I’m so late,” she said, sitting down next to Bryan and shrugging off her jacket. She let Bryan peck her cheek with a muffled Hey, baby and smiled to Max.

“I thought your classes end early on Friday,” said Jo, sipping on her drink.

“Yeah, they do. I was in the studio and, honestly, just lost track of time,” Anna explained and turned to Bryan. “Could you get me a drink, please?”

As Bryan nodded and stood up, Anna looked at Jo and almost whispered, “Stop!”

Jo only gave her an exasperated look, trying to play innocent. Anna shook her head.

“Even Allie and Max were trying to teleport from here when I came,” she noted with a chuckle, making an attempt to prove her point. She saw Allie snort and move a little from Max, like she was finally relaxing with Anna at the table.

“So, how’s Boston, Max?” she asked her cousin, determined to change both the topic and mood.

Max shrugged, taking a sip from his glass. “Not very interesting, to be honest. Sure, the vibe is different and practically every city around is a historical heritage. But, apart from that, nothing much.”

“What are you talking about?” Bryan came back with a cocktail for Anna and another beer for himself.

“Just look at you little kids with fake ID’s,” murmured Jo, looking at Anna with a wicked smile. She was the only one legally drinking from their group, and she liked mocking them about it every now and then. Though today’s remark had much more venom in it than usual.

“Max was telling about Boston,” said Anna, giving Jo another look.

“Yeah, right! College! Feel the freedom?” asked Bryan, actively ignoring Anna’s older friend.

Max shrugged again. “The only thing I really feel so far is Maths,” he let out a humourless laugh.

Anna downed almost half of her cocktail in one go. “What, so bad?”

“You can’t even imagine. I thought I was studying engineering, but no, Maths, day in, day out. Remember how at school I used to say Maths is the easiest subject?”

“Still hate you for that,” chuckled Anna.

“I’m in a hate club too,” Allie raised her drink and they clinked glasses with Anna jokingly.

Max laughed at them, “Well, you both will be happy to know that now I understand half of what my professors say at best.”

“Oh, that’s absolutely normal,” stated Allie, turning to Max, “I understand only half of what my professors say everytime they speak. Even if they just greet the audience.”

Jo snorted to that and Anna giggled.

“Thank you, Allie, now I feel much better!”

Allie shoved his side lightly and muttered, “Any time.” Anna smiled in her glass, being strangely glad of how well her friends got on with her favourite cousin. Allie and Bryan did know Max for a long time, as he and Anna were always really close. But being even one year apart at school made them rather distant with different friends groups. Now, them all studying apart, it didn't really matter anymore and somehow drew them all even closer.

Anna was just sitting there, sipping on her drink and thinking about all of this and nothing at the same time, when she felt the mood tense again. It all started with Allie glancing behind Anna’s back, at the bar entrance, and freezing for a moment. She looked at Anna quickly with round eyes. And then there were those words Bryan ushered, being already slightly drunk, “Fuck Maths, Max. What about Boston girls? Have you found some hottie yet?”

Max almost choked on his beer at the question, his eyes dart nervously to Allie. Of course, he’d be nervous, Anna assumed, discussing such a topic in front of his cousin and her two girlfriends.

Anna used the awkward moment to look back and see what was so surprising for Allie. She saw him momentarily, like there was some kind of a magnet, getting her eyesight set at him. He was with two friends, one of them she remembered from the hospital. They stopped at the side counter, as all the tables were already occupied. He looked tired, but relaxed, laughed at some jokes and looked unfairly good in his black leather jacket. And he didn’t notice her yet.

Annabelle turned her attention back to her friends, throwing meaningful look at Allie, while Max was rambling something about “Seriously, I don’t have any time for that, Bryan,” and “Not like I was so much interested right now.”

Jo chuckled and didn’t even try to hold back, “Starting a chick convo in front of your girlfriend, Bryan? Congrats on reaching the first class dickhead level.”

Bryan scoffed and calmly, in a very unusual for him manner, looked at Jo. “Tell me something, Jo. If I’m so much of a dickhead, then why does you friend love me?”

Everyone froze. Jo smiled like a cougar smelling blood, Allie was glancing from Bryan to Anna and back, and Max was just staring at his beer, trying to pay as little attention to what was going on at their table as possible.

Anna sighed, knowing well what everybody was thinking, and then she felt it. Slight itching between her shoulder blades. She looked at the bar and saw Calum looking straight at her. She nodded at him, finished her drink and said, “You know what? Right now I don’t love any of you, you piss me off so much. Gonna go get a refill.”

With that she stood up and made her way to the bar.

“So you don’t sleep, but you drink?” she smiled at Calum.

He made a gulp of his beer and smiled too, “Occasionally. You’re here with your friends?”

“Yeah, my cousin came back from college for the weekend, so we’re like catching up,” Anna nodded, turning to the bartender to ask for another cocktail. She deliberately told him only about Max coming, not a word about Bryan. Was it bad? Should she feel guilty about it? She dismissed the idea, she knew well enough Calum had no interest in whether she had a boyfriend or not.

“You here with friends too?” she asked only to get herself from thinking, why Calum couldn’t care if she had a boyfriend.

“Yeah, we all had a shift today, and that’s a rare occasion, so we decided to use a free night. We’re waiting for some other friends of ours to join,” he answered, half a smile lingering on his lips. Anna nodded again, feeling suddenly lost for words. What do you say to your late brother’s surgeon, who you’d shared three quite intimate moments with, when you accidentally meet him at a bar? While she was rushing through her mind in a search for her next reply, Calum shocked her once again, “Wanna hang out with us?”

Anna looked at him with eyes wide open in surprise. “I- I can’t just ditch my friends, Calum,” she blurted. “But thanks for the offer, in any other situation I would love to join,” she added with all honesty. Because, she realised that very moment, she wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of the evening with him. Friends or no friends.

“They can join too,” Calum shrugged nonchalantly, dropping one crazy idea after another.

Annabelle looked back at her friends. Jo was talking to Allie and Max, all three of them successfully ignoring Anna, but Bryan’s wary eyes didn’t leave her back for a moment.

“Don’t think it’s a good idea, but thanks for offering again,” she mused. “How’s Aubrie doing?”

Calum’s smile got significantly bigger at the reminder of the little girl. “She’s fine. Finished the book I’ve given her, learned all the organ’s names and can’t wait to start learning to be a surgeon,” he chuckled.

“That’s cute,” Anna smiled.

“I’m only afraid she’s gonna be disappointed that surgeons can’t operate in a ballet tutu and pirouette in pauses.”

“Can’t they?” Anna gasped in fake surprise.

“Nope, that’s totally against the rules.”

“What a shame!”

“One of the things I hate about my work,” Calum laughed.

Anna paid for her drink, being put on the counter in front of her, and turned back to Calum.

“I’m sure you’d look great in a ballet tutu, “ she said and he snorted. “Have to get back to my friends, I guess. Was nice bumping into you though.”

“My pleasure,” he said and moved a little forward to hug her. But Anna, feeling Bryan’s eyes burn a hole in her back, moved away a little, like she didn’t notice Calum’s motion and left him with muffled “Have a good night, Calum.”

The reaction when she came back to their table was just what she expected it to be. Max was acting oblivious, Jo and Allie looking at her carefully and Bryan jumped at her with questions, “Who’s that guy?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Anna tried to act it cool, while putting her glass on the table and sitting down. She knew she was cheating herself and Bryan won’t let it go so easily, but it was worth a try.

“Yeah, that does matter,” pushed Bryan.

“That’s Grayson’s surgeon,” she explained, not looking at him.

Bryan choked on his beer. “Grayson as your-?”

“Yes, Bryan, my brother. Now can we leave it, please?”

But her mood was now even worse than when she’d come. She was pretending to listen to Allie’s talking about her hilarious new professor and smiled when everybody was laughing. She tried not to notice how firm was Bryan’s grip on her thigh, or how uncomfortable she felt when he put his arm around her waist and buried his face in her neck. She was wondering why couldn’t she just ask him to stop, and assured herselt, that wasn’t because Calum’s arm had been around some girls shoulders for the last half an hour. And her awful mood wasn’t the reaction to the crickles around his eyes he got everytime he laughed at something that girl said. And she needed to remind herself he could do whatever he wanted when she saw him bend down a little and kiss that girl. She didn’t care. She couldn’t care. Not when she was almost drunk and her boyfriend started kissing her neck. She just couldn’t honestly care less.

***

“I swear I’m never gonna drink again,” Anna whined, holding on to the sink and trying to talk herself into at least brushing her teeth.

Bryan, freshly showered and standing right behind her, chuckled.

“You didn’t even drink that much yesterday,” he reminded.

“Obviously, that was enough,” Anna groaned. She opened the tap and picked her toothbrush, praying that this simple act of hygiene wouldn’t make her feel sicker.

“Finish with that and I’ll make you breakfast,” with that Bryan left the bathroom. Anna winced at the sound of the closing door. She didn’t want breakfast. She didn’t want anything besides that awful headache and nausea to disappear.

She finished with her morning routine and crawled to her tiny kitchen to the sound of Bryan humming some catchy pop song. She nothing but fell on the chair and held her head in her hands. Couple minutes later a cup of coffee appeared in front of her. She moaned and winced once again.

“Come on, Anna. I know you don’t want to but it’ll make you feel better,” Bryan told her, turning back to the stove he was making an omelette on. “Not the first your hangover I’ve been dealing with.”

Anna made a face, but took a little sip of her coffee. After all Bryan was right, he knew what he was doing.

“I know I’ve said it before, but, honestly, how can you be friends with Jo? Still takes me by surprise, she’s such a bitch,” he started after putting plates with breakfast on the counter.

“Don’t start, please,” mumbled Anna, fighting back another wave of sickness.

“She may be good to you, but you have to admit, she’s awful to everybody else,” Bryan happily chewed his omelette, crunchy pieces of bacon on the side of his plate. His own coffee mug was half empty already.

“I don’t wanna talk about Jo,” snapped Anna. “It’ll end with us fighting and I don’t wanna fight. Especially with that headache.”

“Sorry. Don’t wanna fight either,” agreed Bryan.

For some time they kept eating breakfast in silence, until Bryan decided to discuss another person from the previous night.

“So you and that doctor, huh?”

Annabelle rose her eyes at him, not fully understanding where he was going with that.

“What do you mean, me and that doctor?” she asked when understood Bryan wasn’t about to add anything else.

“You two seemed like on pretty good terms,” he shrugged, trying to act indifferent. Anna only shrugged to that. Even if she wanted to explain it to Bryan, where could she possibly start from? “Are you friends now?”

She heard it in an undertones of his voice and in the words he didn’t pronounce. He wasn’t jealous yet, but he was suspicious.

“We’re not friends, Bryan,” she shook her head and immediately winced at the strong pain it caused. “He tried his hardest to save my brother’s life. Least I can do is be polite and friendly to him.”

Bryan huffed to that, putting his plate to the sink.

“How do you know he tried his hardest?” he said then.

Anna could just look at him, utterly lost for words.

“What-” she started, but her voice cracked. She tried again, voice low, “What are you saying now? That he let my brother die on purpose?”

“I’m not saying anything, Anna,” Bryan scrunched his face in mild annoyance. “Nothing like this, at least. It just seemed weird, ‘s all.”

“For fuck’s sake, Bryan!” Anna moaned, focusing back on her coffee.

He walked around the counter and hugged her from behind, hiding his face in her hair. “Gonna miss you like hell,” he whispered making her hair move unpleasantly against her neck.

Anna wanted him to stop, wanted to ask him not to touch her, wanted to free from his grip. She did want it. Instead she mumbled “Yeah, me too,” just like she was supposed too.

“I’ll come for the Halloween next time,” he said, not letting go of her. “Wanna have a date? Just the two of us. Can do costumes if you want.”

“Date sounds fun,” she whispered back, feeling her nausea getting stronger. “No costumes though, just a date.”

“Whatever you say, baby.”

And then he kissed her neck. The next moment she was jumping off her chair and running to the bathroom, her body obviously choosing throwing up over kissing. She heard Bryan giggle behind her. She was adamant she was never gonna drink again.

***

The week started awfully. Nothing really happened, yet Anna felt horrible.

It was raining almost every day. She was crying herself to sleep almost every night. She couldn’t tell anymore why was she crying. It became her sick habit. And it wasn’t such a bad habit really, at least she felt a little better after tears. Like all her sadness was slowly leaving her. Too slowly though. How many more nights did she need before she finally starts feeling herself again?

She stayed in the studio practically every day after lessons. Once been seen by her theory of art professor, questioning her if she wanted to change her major and complementing on her painting skills. Anna smiled and thanked him in all the right moments, not really understanding what was he complimenting her on. It was just another picture of a stormy sky. She’s been painting them since the beginning of fall. Rain clouds, grey, navy blue, purple.

If she wasn’t in the art studio, Anna stayed at home, drawing in her numerous sketchbooks. But sketches started to irritate her, cause no matter what she started to draw, she ended up mindlessly doodling his dark eyes with crinkles around them, appearing every time he was smiling. And then she remembered the last time she saw those crinkles and what he was doing. She tried not to think about it, but failed each time. Was it his girlfriend? An fwb? Just a one night stand? And why, for the thousandth time, why did it matter?

Anna sighed and tried to focus on her lecture, her hand doodling eyes again. Anna put her pencil away and leaned back on her chair to concentrate on what her professor was currently saying. But, obviously, all her attempts were in vain today, as her phone vibrated shortly, signaling of the incoming message. She decided not to check, cause that was probably Jo, who never cared if Anna was in class or not. Allie was more considerate and, as she seemed to memorize all their timetables, never disturbed Anna during her classes. She talked to Max only in the evenings. And she facetimed with Bryan in the morning, so there was no reason he would text her now. It was definitely Jo. Which meant it could wait till the break. She wiggled on her place, looked at her bag laying near with her phone inside. What if it wasn’t from Jo?

She fished her phone out of her bag and unblocked it, being careful not to get caught. The message was from Jo, asking on their group chat with Allie if they were getting together at her place or Anna’s, as it was Thursday. Anna huffed in disappointment and switched off the screen, leaving Jo’s message without reply. She was about to put her phone back, but something stopped her, making her stare at the black device. A revolutionary idea blowing up in her mind. She could just text him. Instead of sitting here and miserably waiting for a goddamn miracle, she could just text him.

Not giving herself a second to change her mind, Anna unblocked her phone again and opened her chat with Calum. He fingers lingered over the keyboard. What was she to say? Awkwardly ask him, how he was? Or start boldly with asking if the girl he was basically sucking on in a bar on Friday was his girlfriend? No matter how diligently she was lying to herself, she knew that was exactly what didn’t let her live. Anna sighed heavily and switched off her phone. Then switched it on again and typed Wanna grab a coffee? before her brain even thought of stopping her. She pressed Send and left her phone on her thigh, waiting for the reply.

She didn’t have to wait for long, he answered in couple minutes. Yet those two minutes felt like an eternity for Anna.

Sure. Right now?

Not on a shift? I’m finishing with my classes in two hours.

Nah, free today. Where do we meet?

Anna looked up at her professor again, like she was listening to him, but in reality just thinking on her answer. In contrast to the last four days the sky was clear from the early morning, pavements drying out and the sun shining really warm for a beginning of October. It would be such a shame to waste this day inside.

What do you say if we get coffee from a coffee shop near my college and then just walk? The weather seems good and there’s a park nearby.

Deal. Mind if I bring a friend?

Anna frowned. He wanted to bring a friend? She rolled her eyes and cursed the moment she decided to text him. What a fool she was! But she knew she couldn’t bail. Not now.

Sure. The more the merrier, right?

:) text me the address, i’ll see you in two hours.

When she was leaving the auditorium, she almost bumped in her professor, so distracted she was. She had only one more lecture to survive, but even that sounded practically impossible.

Who was he about to bring? That other doctor she saw him with? Maybe they were together when she texted? What other reason could Calum have to bring him along? Assuming of course, he wasn’t brining anybody else. And though the possibilities were endless, Anna tried her best not to dwell on them. Yet her attempts were pretty worthless. So by the end of her last class she was nervous to the point of shaking knees and hands. She deliberately loitered while packing her stuff and was the last to leave the auditorium. She stopped for the moment to ask a girl she knew for pictures of her conspect, and spend some time taking them. She chose the longest way up to the coffee shop. She couldn’t help it. She wanted to see him. But she was scared to see who he comes with.

She turned around the corner and, of course, he was waiting for her. Same black leather jacket over a green hoodie, his phone in his left hand, him scrolling through it. And, by his right side, his friend. On a leash.

Anna couldn’t hold back her chuckle, relief washing over her.

“So that is your friend, huh?” she asked as she came up to him.

Calum looked up from his phone, big smile on his face.

“That is my friend,” he confirmed, shoving his phone in his pocket and looking down on his dog. “Hope you don’t mind. I kinda promised him to spend the day together, so he’s tailing us.”

“Can I pet him?” Anna asked, looking at the pup, who was looking back at her, wiggling his tail.

“Sure, he seems in a good mood today.”

Anna was already on her knees, her bag tossed on the pavement. The dog was tiny, looked almost like a husky, but was a size of a corgi. Anna’d never seen dogs like that one, but was already in love.

“What’s his name?” she asked, looking up at smiling Calum.

“Duke.”

“Well, hello, Duke,” she hummed, both of her hands in his fur. The pup dodged around, licked Anna’s wrist and lied down on the pavement on his back, giving her full access to his belly. Anna only laughed and started rubbing where he asked to.

“Aren’t you one shameless dog?” Calum chuckled over them, before pulling on the leash lightly. “Come on, you’ll have your fun later.”

Anna picked up her bag and stood up, mirroring Calum’s smile.

“Capuccino?” he asked, handing her the leash and moving towards the coffee shop entrance.

“Actually, I was dying for hot cocoa and I can pay for my…”

“Sure, you can,” he snorted, disappearing in the coffee shop.

Anna huffed and then felt something bump in her calf. She looked down at the pup, his dark eyes staring at her in the silent plea, looked back at the coffee shop and bent down, thinking she had couple of minutes she could spend on this adorable little creature.

When Calum came out with two big cups of hot beverage in his hands, Duke was on his back again and Anna was humming some cute nonsense to him.

“So I lost you to my dog, nice,” he joked, handing Anna her hot cocoa.

“Can you blame me?” she handed the leash back and turned to the park she was talking about previously.

“Guess, I can’t.”

Calum followed her and soon they were walking down an alley full of fallen leaves, which Duke happened to be a great fan off.

“I hope I didn’t ruin any plans of yours,” Anna said after some silent moments. “The only plan I had for today was to spend it with that rowdy,” he nodded towards Duke, jumping around another pile of yellow leaves, “and it seems, he’s having a time of his life here.”

Anna smiled to that, moving her gaze to the excited pup, and sipped on her cocoa.

“So, college,” Calum started, looking around. Students were passing them all the time, some are smiling to Anna, knowing her from different courses or just the studio. “How far along are you?”

She choked on her drink and started coughing.

“Shit, sorry,” Calum looked really sorry, though couldn’t completely hide a mischievous smile. “Terrible doctor humour. Spend too much time among pregnant women.”

“Second year,” Anna said as soon as her breathing came to normal. “And thank you, now I have cocoa in my nose.”

“I am sorry,” Calum snorted.

Anna looked at his profile, crinkles she was sketching all week in a fine view in front of her, and suddenly her Saturday conversation with Bryan popped up in her memory.

“Speaking about your work, can I ask you a question?” she said, her voice low. “It’s about my brother.”

She saw his face darken, brows furrowed as he took a gulp of his coffee.

“Sure,” he said, his voice though not as confident as it was.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, I totally understand,” Anna explained hurriedly, a little scared by his reaction. “I just wondered if you could tell me what happened during the surgery. But if it’s too much, I mean, I would totally understand.”

He sighed and took another gulp. “Why do you ask?”

“I just wanna know,” Anna shrugged, not really getting what he was asking about.

“You don’t wanna know what happened,” Calum said, shaking his head and looking at Duke. “You wanna know if there was a chance,” he stated rather harsh.

“Well, yeah, probably that too,” Anna agreed easily, not offended with his reaction at all. She knew he didn’t want to talk about it. But she didn’t regret asking, cause she also knew it’s gonna stand between them until they just speak it up. And she didn’t really want anything to stand between them.

Calum sighed again, more heavily now. “There’s always a chance, Anna,” he said. “We had major problems with the blood pressure during the whole operation,” he started explaining in a low emotionless voice. “There were problems with it before the operation, as you know, because of his condition. And that was the reason we couldn’t wait any longer. So when we finished with the heart we just weren't able to start it again. It didn’t want to bump more than once at a time, and blood pressure was falling critically. We tried to start it much longer than we should have been according to the protocoles. The heart was okay. I mean, it was tiny and stitched, but it was in normal enough condition to start. But it didn’t.”

Anna inhaled deeply, congratulating herself for keeping all the tears at bay this time.

“There’s always a chance in the OR, Anna,” Calum continued. “But you have to understand, it’s practically never up to us, doctors. With older patients I would say it’s up to their will to live. But in my department, I don’t even know, to be honest. Blind chance? God? Have no idea.”

“Thank you,” Anna said as they kept walking down the park paths.

“Yeah,” Calum mumbled, not looking at her.

Duke obviously got bored of the leaves and was now just mincing in front of them.

Anna sighed. She had another question she was dying to ask, but she was so afraid to fuck his mood up even more. She threw a sly look at him and frowned. He was upset and she probably had no chance to make it worse anyway, so…

“Can I ask you one more inappropriate question?”

He quirked his eyebrow, turning his gaze to her.

“How much inappropriate?” he asked, careful but definitely intrigued.

“Very,” admitted Anna with a dramatic gasp.

“Fire away,” Calum chuckled.

“Okay, so, when we went to Aubrie’s party, I obviously saw your tattoos,” she saw his eyebrow quirk more and a smile linger on his lips at her rambling, “and there is that one with a bird and a strange name, I guess, next to it. So I was wondering, was it for, like, your girlfriend or, maybe, an ex-girlfriend, or even wife, though I did notice you don’t wear a ring, but some people never do even if they are married, or-”

“Anna, relax and take a breath,” he laughed, grabbing her shoulder and making her stop both her walking and her rambling.

“I just know tattoo questions are inappropriate,” she exhaled with an apologetic smile.

“Mali-Koa is my sister’s name,” Calum explained, smiling softly, and they started moving again, as Duke kept pulling on the leash not really interested in just standing. “The tattoo is for her.”

“Oh,” Anna nodded, not really knowing what to say to that. She rubbed her forehead, thinking how much of a fool she probably looked like. “So you have a sister?”

“Yeah, she’s older. Lives in London, she’s a singer. And her name is Maori.”

“Maori?” Anna repeated quite shocked.

“Yeah, our Mom is Maori, Dad is from Scotland. We with Mali are pretty strange mix, really. We were born in New Zealand, but moved to Australia with our parents pretty soon, so we grew up there. Now she’s in the UK, and I’m here.”

“How did you end up here?” asked Anna, finishing her cocoa.

“Well, Mali moved to the UK and I wanted to study medicine. And there are some pretty good schools in Britain, so I moved there with some of my friends and started college there. And then there was this opportunity to enter a surgeon programme here and we applied, and here I am.”

“The doctor I saw you with at the bar is one of those friends?” Anna asked, trying not to notice blunt pain under her ribs from the memories of that night.

“Yeah, that’s Ashton. He’s a pediatric surgeon, the one that treats Aubrie now, by the way. And the other one was Luke,” he explained. Anna tried to remember the third guy Calum entered the bar that night with, but her memories were blurry.

“Is he working with children too?” she asked, unable to remember anything about him except for him being tall.

“Nah, he said that saving lives is too boring, so he’ll be saving beauty,” Calum chuckled, looking at Anna’s puzzled expression. “He’s a plastic surgeon.”

Anna let out an Oh and nodded.

“And answering the second part of your extremely inappropriate question, there’s no girlfriend or wife,” he added with another chuckle, looking at her cautiously.

Anna looked at her feet, sudden cough taking over her. That wasn’t her question, was it? Should she answer anything to that or play dumb? And does that mean that girl was a one night stand? And why would he decide to state that out? Does he think she’s interested? Is he interested? Anna almost drowned in her endless questions, when Calum’s voice brought her back to the reality.

“Can I also ask you a question?” he said, smiling so awfully pretty as he knew exactly how uncomfortable his last remark made her feel.

“An inappropriate one?” Anna smirked at him. After all, two could easily play that game.

Calum laughed, not a sign of earlier gloom from her first question on his face.

“Okay, truth to be told, I have two questions and one of them is inappropriate, but I think it’ll be just fair,” he confirmed.

“Sure, ask away,” Anna laughed.

“I’ll start with a more appropriate one though,” Calum warned her. “That day in the hospital when your friends came to visit,” he started. Anna nodded, showing she got, what day and what visit he was referring to. “Your friend called you Belle in the hall. Is it a nickname of sorts?”

Anna smiled at the memory. “Not really. My full name is actually Annabelle,” she explained. “Most people call me Anna and I use it more often too. But Jo, my friend, she’s a photographer, that’s how we met. The first time we talked, she stated that I’m not Anna at all and Belle suits me ten thousand times better.”

“Ten thousand, huh?” Calum smiled.

“I’m literally quoting,” Anna chuckled. “So ever since that time she’s been calling me Belle.”

“Well, she’s definitely not wrong about that,” Calum admitted and winked at her.

Anna rolled her eyes. “Shut up, will you,” she laughed. “What’s your inappropriate question?”

“Right, you ready?”

“Absolutely not, but, please, ask it anyway.”

“Which out of your two inappropriate questions was the one that made you text me today?” he asked, his tone soft but serious.

Anna looked away instantly. Duke, like feeling her tension, ran up to her and started wiggling his tail, bumping into her legs every now and then.

“None,” she confessed, looking at the pup below. She wasn’t lying, right, because the question that didn’t let her live was mostly about the girl in the bar. But even that question wasn’t really the reason. And Anna prayed he wouldn’t asked about that.

“Then why did you text me?”

Anna sighed. How could she even start to put it into words? Can’t get you out of my mind? Feel connected to you? Hooked on emotions I can’t even name but still feel next to you? It all sounded too… like she was confessing a crush. And he wasn’t a crush, that word was an understatement here but also would be too much.

She took a deep breath. “I guess, I wanted to spend some time with the only person I feel comfortable with these days, cause you’re the only one who looks at me without any trace of pity in your eyes.”

She didn’t dare looking up at him after ushering those words. Though she heard his sharp exhale and also felt the warmth of his smile. Yet the warmth could also be from his breath on her cheek cause the next moment he enveloped his arms around her. He wasn’t saying anything, no meaningless promises of it all getting better soon. Just holding her close to his chest in his firm embrace, letting her breath in his piny smell. Duke barked at them merrily and put his front paws up on Anna’s shin, hugging her in his heartwarming dog manner.

“You gotta stop hugging me like this out of the blue if you don’t want to set the waterwork up,” Anna mumbled against his soft hoodie.

His chest shook so wonderfully with a quiet laugh he let. “I’m totally okay with the waterwork.”

“I’m not,” Anna pouted, making him laugh again.

“Okay, okay,” he nagged jokingly, letting go of her. “But how can you cry when Duke is hugging you?” he asked, petting on his dog.

“That’s the only reason I’m still holding,” Anna snorted.

“Good job, buddy,” Calum gave Duke another rub on his back before the little pup ran after a pigeon he saw on the path.

“So, Belle,” Calum stressed her name and smiled widely, crinkles back on his face, “wanna go grab some lunch?”

“Sure,” Anna agreed easily, yet with devils in her eyes, “but only if you stop calling me that and let me pay for my lunch.”

“Ah, that I’m not sure I can promise,” he rolled his eyes playfully. “Guess you’ll have to check your luck, Belle.”

Anna already opened her mouth to say back something full of sass, to show him she was not so easy to fluster, when Calum was basically dragged down the path by Duke running after the whole pack of pigeons like his life depended on it. While Calum was trying to talk some sense into his overexcited dog, Anna was left to bend down from laughing at them both. And that moment it stuck her. She couldn’t remember the last time she would laugh like that or feel so good. And then when Calum was calling on her and asking to stop mindlessly laughing and come help him, she realised she didn’t want that feeling to ever go away.

***

Tag list: @myloverboyash @paqueretteash @5saucewho @gorgeouslygrace @singt0mecalum @rip-lukes-balsamic

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