Chapter Text
September.
Calum stared at the pool in front of him. Next to him were stacks of announcements that had to mailed out. Him and Michael had kept things hush in the wake of Jessie's difficult delivery, too afraid to bring a bad twist of fate towards them. So they had kept quiet, keeping their joy to themselves.
But Marie was three and half months pregnant and Jessie was feeling better enough to question Calum to the point of annoyance, her twins nestled in her arms.
Calum laughs to himself, they were having another kid. In a few days the rest of their friends and family would know and soon after the world, if the world still cared.
If someone had told him at sixteen that by the time he was twenty-seven he would have fallen in love with his best friend, gotten married, adopted a little girl and had another on the way... Calum thinks he would've punched that person in the face. Never would he have thought he would be married to Michael for six years and have such a beautiful family. Somewhere deep in his soul his knows this would've been the end game, that no matter if Calum had ran away from Michael years ago or married him earlier, he would still end up in Michael's arms every night for the rest of his life.
Calum thinks back on his life with the band, those glory years that'll define whatever he does later on. How troubled they were, how toxic each one of them had been. He remembers every tour he had been on, smiling over the last tour how stressful yet exciting it had been. Calum knows that him and the band are forever tied, if each of them moves to a different corner of the world they'll still find a moment to spend together. His fingers twitch, itching to hold his bass one more time.
He remembers the day he met Jessie, how she had quite literally ran into his life. She kept doing that, shocking him with how much grace and care she carried herself. He'd seen her grow from a outspoken but anxious teen to a confident and determined woman. Luke had met his match, Calum decides, finding his equal in her. He can recall the late night when Luke had came to him nervously saying he might be in love with her a few weeks after they two had met. He had laughed at Luke but looking back he can see it now, how those two were an explosion.
Of course he didn't think him and Jessie would get along, they were too alike. Then again maybe it had been Calum's need to keep up his carefully constructed lies that kept the two from being close in the beginning. She could see through them too easily, and after those walls had been taken down they were inseparable.
Calum thinks of Ashton and how the blond was putting his life back together, enjoying the things he never had the chance to do before. He wished the older man the best in everything he did from here on out. He smiled at the memory of Ashton's and Bryana's wedding, the newlyweds were always welcomed in L.A.
Calum sighs, dipping his toes into the pool. Next summer he'd finally put Nadya in swimming lessons, put the pool to good use. She was four now, eager to start pre-k after watching Magic School bus. She started in a week and Calum wasn't entirely sure he was ready for that. Michael had laughed, saying that it was apart of life. Yet Calum had caught him sniffling, his eyes tearing up. Michael was just as sad and scared over their daughter growing up just as much as he was.
With another on the way him and Michael had been spending time pouring over paint swatches and furniture, unlike with Nadya they wouldn't find out the baby's sex until the birth and Michael wanted to paint the nursery yellow. Calum was very much against that and wanted it painted shades of sky blue and brown. Regardless they still had a few months before they had to decide on things.
Michael. His thoughts always came back to his husband. Calum considered himself incredibly lucky to have him in his life. There were many words the floated around Calum's head that fit what Michael was to him. Lover, best friend, constant, spouse, family, pain in the ass occasionally. Everything Calum was today was because he had Michael with him. They had grown together, fought together, lived together. Calum didn't want to think about a life where Michael wasn't in it.
Their love was something that wasn't going away with time, Calum admitted to himself. He could admit that they were probably soulmates like Jessie and Bryana kept saying.
"Calum we need to mail those out," Michael appears out of nowhere, sitting cross legged next to him. "Like today babe." Calum laughs, leaning his head on Michael's shoulder.
"Okay, okay, I was just thinking."
"About?" Michael prompts, lacing their fingers together. Calum kisses his husband quickly, moving long blond hair out Michael's eyes.
"The future, the past, everything in between," Calum answers, thinking to that book that was almost finished. He had finally told Michael about the tell all, earning support and laughs. Michael now helped him, offering memories and moments Calum couldn't remember.
"Well I think you should think about mailing those announcements, you know our mums are going to be pissed we didn't tell them sooner," Michael complains, taking one of the glossy envelopes in his hands. Michael stands, gathering the rest, "Lets go Callie, leave the past in the past and the future for tomorrow."
Calum stands, looking over his backyard. Duchess barks in the distance, chasing Wilson, a breeze coming through. If he closes his eyes Calum can smell the Sydney air, can hear the waves lapping onto the beach. If he focuses just right, he can make out that bonfire from years ago, everyone laughing at Michael lighting a marshmallow on fire. Tilting his head he can go further, to band practices in a dingy garage, to Michael and Calum playing in a grassy backyard as kids.
Opening his eyes he can see his future; can see Nadya running around in the backyard chasing butterflies. He can hear his kids yelling and shrieking, can imagine him and Michael building and rebuilding. Calum can see himself growing older and old along side Michael, watching his kids grow up. Can see many more bonfires, many Christmases at that beach house.
Today though, he'll focus on the present. He turns, finding Michael and Nadya just inside the living room peering at him. Twin green eyes, with the attitudes to match watching him. He slips his phone into his pocket and makes his way towards them. It was time to get this over with, to close one chapter of his life and begin another.
Leave the past in the past, and the future for tomorrow. Calum would live for today.