Chapter Text
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Calum and Ashton had been arguing for an hour almost. Now, arguing doesn't get the idea. They had been shouting at each other, which is something that doesn't happen that often, so Michael and Luke had just been there watching as the two best friends spat mean words at each other.
That's until Michael had had enough, took Luke's hand and lead him out.
Which is why Calum and Ashton are now alone, facing each other with anger boiling inside their bodies.
They had never been phisical before. So it's a shock when Calum's hand collides with Ashton's face.
Ashton's ears ring, he doesn't know what they are arguing about anymore. It must have been something stupid, like Calum's new habit of smoking that Ashton can't stand, or Ashton's tattoo, which Calum hates. It doesn't matter anymore, because Calum just slapped him.
'I'm sorry,' Calum mumbles, holding his hands up in surrender.
But Ashton grabs his wrists and takes advantage of Calum being so scared of his own actions to push him out, slamming the door in his face.
Calum recovers just in time to put his hand between the door and its frame, but it's too late and Ashton is already closing it, with way too much energy.
It slams against Calum's hand, literally crashing it. All Calum feels is a burning pain radiating from his fingers to his hand and arm. It feels like the world stops for a second and then Calum retires his hand, cradling it into his other, hot tears running down his face.
He yells, he can feel his throat burning, but Ashton just slams the door again, not caring that his best friend is sobbing, his hand throbbing so badly that he wishes he could cut it off.
Calum feels dizzy when he watches at it. There is an angry red mark on his knuckles and his fingers are literally puffing up in front of him. The skin above his middle finger is cut and bleeding slowly. Calum turns to the empty vase next to him and throws up sliding down the wall a few seconds later.
Calum sits there for a few minutes, wondering if Ashton noticed what happened. He tries to move his fingers and almost gets sick again.
A few drops fall on the top of his head. Just his luck, he thinks, as it starts to rain.
He bangs on the door with his good hand, not bothering to stand up. 'Ash, let me in, it's raining.'
A loud 'Fuck off,' is all he gets in response.
Great.
He shivers watching the gray clouds up in the sky, hoping Luke and Michael will be home soon.
By the time they finally come back, Calum is soaking and so are they.
'What are you doing here?' Michael asks and Calum knows he is pissed too.
He sighs, realizing that Michael doesn't even know he hit Ashton and he is already angry at him. This isn't good at all.
He doesn't want to whine, so he doesn't reply. He stands up, awkwardly holding his throbbing hand close to his chest and waits. Unsurprisingly no one pays attention enough to notice.
'Ash, open up, we are freezing out here!' Luke yells and a few seconds later the door is open.
Luke and Michael get in first, Calum lagging a bit behind while Ashton holds the door open. He is almost afraid Ashton will lock him out again. They look at each other for a second, Calum wants to cry at how hard Ashton's glare is.
Calum gets upstairs and locks himself in the bathroom, finally having a proper look at his hand. It's purplish now and he can't even touch it without flinching. At least it isn't bleeding anymore. He ponders what to do. He should probably ice it, but he isn't sure if he is allowed downstairs.
'Cal, be quick, I'm freezing!' Luke says, knocking at the bathroom door.
It takes a while for Calum to strip off his clothes, they are glued to his body and he can't use his right hand. Unbuttoning his jeans is already a task, but he manages. What really makes him want to cry is slide his shirt off his right arm. When he finally manages to, he is in tears.
'Calum, what the hell!' Luke calls again, knocking harder.
Calum gets out, his hair still dripping water, his fringe sticking to his forehead and covering one of his eyes. He leaves his drenched clothes on the bathroom floor, not caring that it will give Luke another reason to yell at him.
He is cold, but he didn't have time to shower.
'Why are you crying?' Luke asks, 'Come on, Ashton will forgive you.'
Calum shrugs and goes into his room, throwing some comfy clothes on, still crying out in pain when the fabric brushes against his fingers.
He slowly makes his way downstairs, stopping on the steps when he hears Ashton and Michael talking.
' You shouldn't have left him in the rain. He looked like a wet puppy,' Michael says. His voice is sharp and Calum cringes, but he is taking his side and this makes him feel the slightest better.
'He fucking slapped me, Mike. For all I care, he deserved it.'
There is silence at this point and Calum knows he has fucked up big time. He swallows, finally making his way to the kitchen. He can feel Michael's glare on him, but he doesn't dare look up.
He grabs a pack of ice and tries to put it on his fingers, but that's definitely too painful. So he opts for keeping it in his good hand, carefully holding his sore fingers onto it, waiting for it to numb the pain. It doesn't help much and Calum is starting to sweat now, even though he is cold and shivering.
He sits on a chair, putting his head on the table and cradling his sore hand. He tries to move his fingers and his mouth feels watery immediately. If he tries again, he'll throw up.
'Are you okay?' Luke asks, appearing in front of him and Calum forces his head up nodding.
'You are not,' Luke sighs, sitting next to him and putting his hand On Calum's shoulder. 'Did you shower? You are still cold. I hope you don't catch anyth-'
'We have soundcheck in half an hour,' Michael says, standing in front of them, with his arms crossed. 'Get ready. We'll talk later,' he adds, looking straight into Calum's eyes.
Calum wants to beg for Michael's forgiveness. He can stand Ashton yelling at him, but he can't even imagine arguing with Michael.
Then another thought makes him worry.
He tugs at Luke's shirt to catch is attention as soon as Michael leaves. 'I can't do soundcheck,' he whines and he hates how his voice sounds.
Luke is the only one who can help him at the moment. If he knew what Calum did he'd probably leave him alone, but Calum definitely needs help and Luke is the only option at the moment.
'You'll be fine,' Luke encourages him with a faint smile, 'You know how Michael is.'
'It's- it's not that.' great. Now he is stuttering too. He shuts his mouth, slowly holding his hands up, in front of Luke. 'I don't think I can play.'
Luke gives him a look. Calum's swollen hand is still supported by his good one, the ice almost melted and not even cold anymore.
'Of course you can't. What happened?' Luke asks, looking from Calum's hand to his face and back.
'I closed the door on my hand,' he says. He purposely doesn't mention Ashton, but he can't fool Luke that easily.
In fact Luke frowns, 'You did? On your own?'
'Please, Luke.'
'Okay, fine. Can you move your hand at all?'
Calum shakes his head, slowly lowering his hands down. 'It hurts really bad.'
'I think you should get it checked. Looks nasty. And we really need to tell the others.'
Calum's eyes grow wide. 'Luke please, I'm begging you.'
'Begging Luke for what? I said we are running late,' Michael says, appearing once again in the kitchen.
'We need to go to the hospital,' Luke says and Calum cringes.
'What now?'
Luke roughly pulls Calum's arm, showing Michael the state his crushed hand is in. The sudden movement, with no support from his other hand, makes Calum yell.
'What the fuck?!'
'I'm gonna be sick.'
Luke grabs him by his shoulders mumbling an apology and pushing his head over the sink, just in time for Calum to throw up.
He spits one last time, before leaning with his back on Luke's stomach, apologizing. Luke strokes his fringe, replying,' I'm sorry too.'
'What happened, Cal?' Michael asks. He doesn't sound angry anymore, he is just worried and that makes Calum wonder how he looks right now. Desperate, maybe.
'Ashton closed his hand in the door.'
'Luke, please.'
'Can I have a look?' Michael asks, gently taking Calum's puffy hand into his own.
Michael's hand feels cold, but that's probably just because Calum's is too hot. It looks absolutely horrible now that Calum sees the contrast between his and Michael's hand. His fingers look darker than they did before, they are double the size of Michael's which is weird, considering that Calum's hands are smaller than Michael's. He can't really see his knuckles anymore, there is just a huge, swollen mess. He almost laughs at how weird it looks.
'You really need to go to the hospital, come on,' Michael tells him, taking the charge. He helps Calum out of Luke's hold and guides him on a chair.
'Please, get his shoes,' Michael tells Luke and then he sets the ice back under Calum's fingers. 'is this okay?'
Calum nods, grateful that Michael knows how to handle every situation and leans into him, Michael stroking his hair as he rests his head on Michael's chest. 'You'll be alright. Just don't pass out on me, okay?'
'Not passing out,' Calum reassures him.
When Luke comes back with Calum's sneakers, Michael kneels down to help him put them on and tie them.
'Should we tell Ashton? I'm sure he didn't mean to hurt you.'
Now, that's probably because the pain, but Calum snaps at Luke. 'He heard me cry and slammed the door in my face, leaving me under the rain.' he spits the truth, biting his tongue when he realises it.
'Tell Ashton he is a dead man once I come back,' Michael says and if words could kill, Ashton would have been dead by now.
He helps Calum back on his feet and takes him out, leaving Luke standing there chewing on his lower lip.
.
When Michael and Calum come back from the hospital, almost two hours later, Calum's fingers are splinted and his hand is bandaged up to his wrist. He looks drained of all energy and in worse pain than he was before.
Ashton and Luke are sitting on the couch and when they see Calum, they both rush to him, which only makes Calum feel uncomfortable.
'How is he?' Luke asks Michael, once he realizes that Calum isn't in the mood to talk.
'Four fingers are broken. They got them reset. I'm not sure, he was screaming.' and that's when they notice that Michael had been crying. It must have been scary.
'Calum, I'm sorry. You know that, right? I didn't mean to hurt you.' Ashton rushes to say, cupping Calum's face with his hand.
'And I didn't mean to slap you,' Calum mumbles back, looking down in shame.
'I broke your hand,' Ashton says out loud and the guilt is evident in his tone. He can't look away from Calum's bandaged hand.
'Just my fingers,' Calum replies, smiling faintly despite the pain still making him nauseous.
'Yeah Ashton. You broke his fingers and didn't even care to help him,' Michael points out, crossing his arms and giving Ashton a glare.
'I know. I didn't think he was that hurt.'
'Michael, please. I pissed him off, he had a right to be angry. It's alright.'
Calum slowly makes his way to the couch, finally sitting down and closing his eyes. He is sure that Michael will give Ashton a lecture as soon as Calum falls asleep, but he is too drained to bother about it. He is just glad Ashton has forgiven him, even if the price he paid is way too high for his liking. He won't be playing bass for a while now.