Number 40 for Ballum please! 💕
“Hey, are you still awake?”
“Barely,” Callum grunts, then realises his mistake and rolls over. Ben’s outlined in gold from the light of his lamp, and his forehead is crinkled with worry. Callum musters what strength he has to reach out a hand and touch there. “What’s wrong?”
Ben rolls his eyes. “World peace, what’dya think?”
“Right,” Callum says, because he deserves that. Ben’s first appointment with the surgeon is tomorrow. The reality of the cochlear implant is hitting harder. “Sorry. I told ya I’d go with ya. I mean it.”
“I know you do. Just - last time I took it out on you and I don’t want to do that again.”
“No it ain’t,” Ben insists fiercely, rolling onto his back so he can sit up higher in bed. “You’re not my personal punching bag.”
“It’s major surgery, Ben,” Callum tells him once he’s sat up too, reaching out to grab at Ben and seizing his hand. “You’re allowed to be scared.”
“It’s not surgery yet,” he says quietly, tangling their fingers together. “It’s just all the talking. Which is worse because they’re all useless at that.”
“That’s why I’ll go with you. Translate.”
“No. They can write it down if they have to.”
“Then I’ll just be there to hold ya hand,” Callum says with a smile, tightening his grip on Ben. Ben is biting and firm when he says,
“I said no, Callum,” fixing him with a look. Callum doesn’t back down.
“Yeah but you haven’t told me why. Not properly.”
“It’s just so much harder with you there,” Ben blurts out, like he’s been holding onto it for a while. Everything about him softens, his chin falling to his chest as he admits, “I just - I want things to be better for you, I want to be better for you.”
Callum feels the words like voltage, shocking him further up and closer in. “This ain’t about me,” he says, having lifted Ben’s face with a gentle finger to get him to look. “Or us. It’s about you.”
“You are me,” Ben says, almost gasping, “Without you I - ”
Callum crashes their mouth together with a kiss, untangling their hands so he can run his fingers through Ben’s hair, and keep hold. “You won’t be without me. Never.”
“Please, Callum,” Ben says, a little breathless now. “Just this once. I’ll come to the parlour straight after.”
Callum shakes his head but he’s not disagreeing, Ben's face ins his hand when he pleads with him, “Promise me you’ll tell me if you change your mind? I’ll be there for you.”
Ben lets out a little huff of a laugh, taking Callum’s shirt in his hands. “You’re always there for me, babe,” he says, kissing Callum again but with soft, pliant lips and lingering breath.
Callum lets his eyes flutter closed. “Always.”
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