something’s gotta give - tylum
“I’m dying to live, something’s gotta give” - so i found at tyler is actually friends with atl as well so obviously i had to have him and calum meet at one of their shows (this is the first of several parts btw)
'Come on man it'll be fun, you haven't seen the guys in ages.' Michael reminded Calum as they were driven to the venue where All Time Low where playing that night.
Calum had just gone through a tricky break-up with a very famous (read ex disney kid now actress and singer with her own barbie doll type famous) girl and this was his first time leaving the house properly in a month. Unless leaving the house to buy more comfort food or drive round to Michael's place to cry counted as going out properly. Which Michael told him it didn't.
'I know I know.' Calum sighed. 'Of course I'm looking forward to seeing them, they always know how to get me wasted enough to forget my problems.' Calum chuckled to himself. 'It's just the thought of paps and questions about Zen- questions about her.' Calum finished with a sigh.
'It'll be fine Cal, you said yourself you'll be getting wasted tonight and you'll forget all about her.' Michael reassured Calum. 'We just gotta find you a cute girl, or guy, to take your mind off her.'
Calum had never actually come out as bi to anyone except Michael and he still started slightly when he heard Michael mention it.
'You're right.' Calum said, shaking his head as if that would quieten the thoughts that filled it. 'I'm gonna go in there, listen to one of my favourite bands, drink tequila till I puke and hopefully have someone grind on me.'
'There we go!' Michael grinned as their car came to a stop. 'As a wise man once said, maybe it's not your weekend but it's gonna-'
'Oh my god shut up.' Calum laughed as he recognised the lyrics. His smile quickly faded from his face however as he saw the outlines of paparazzi crowded round their car through the tinted window.
'It's gonna be okay.' Michael said, squeezing Calum's shoulder briefly before opening his car door and stepping out. Calum took a few deep breaths before pulling a baseball cap low over his eyes and doing the same.
'Calum what do you have to say about your recent split from Zendaya?'
'Calum can you confirm the rumours that-'
'Calum is it true that you and Zendaya have-'
The voices bombarded Calum as the bodyguards in front of him pushed a path through for him to the back door of the venue.
'Fuck that was more intense than I was expecting.' Calum winced as he stepped inside.
'But you're one step closer to a lot of free booze.' Michael said clapping him on the back. 'Come on lets go find their dressing room.'
The two boys wandered down the busy corridors filled with tech people and pr people and bodyguards and all the same types of people who filled up their lives as well. They finally reached the dressing room and both broke into matching grins as they saw the scruffy sign hastily taped to the door.
"No aussies allowed"
'Can’t you two fucking read?' Jack greeted them, bounding over to envelop them both in a hug.
'Yeah you dickheads read the sign.' Alex laughed, joining in the group hug.
'Hey Cal, hey Mike.' Rian greeted them with a roll of his eyes at his fellow bandmates.
Zack nodded at them in greeting as he tuned his bass in the corner.
Calum eventually extracted himself from the group hug and helped himself to a beer from the table on the side, going to sit by Zack and happily discuss bass while Alex, Jack and Michael jumped around the dressing room like a bunch of excitable (slightly drunk) puppies.
'Alright you're on in 5 and Jack I wanna see you with a shirt on in 30 seconds okay?' The stage manager called as they stuck their head round the door.
'Good seeing you Calum.' Zack smiled as he got up and prepared to go out. 'You're coming out with us after right?'
'Course I am, wouldn't miss it.' Calum grinned back.
'Oh by the way, sorry about Zendaya man. You made a great couple.' Zack added, giving him a slap on the shoulder before picking up his bass and walking out the dressing room.
'See you later Cal!' Jack called. 'Michael made us promise to get you drunk off your ass tonight I hope you're ready!'
'Yep see you later!' Calum called back half heartedly, wishing his chest didn't feel like it was caving in whenever someone said her name. They had both accepted that at the moment they just weren't in the right places in their careers for a serious relationship and had ended on friendly enough terms, but it still hurt to remember she wasn't in his life anymore.
Michael winced slightly as he turned around to see the smile quickly drop off Calum's face. 'On the plus side dude they left all the alcohol in here so? You wanna start drinking now?'
'Pass me a glass.' Calum sighed.
~
Luckily the tequila took it's effect pretty quickly and soon Calum was standing next to Michael backstage screaming the lyrics along with all the other fans as well.
'I told you this was a good idea!' Michael yelled over the music and Calum simply nodded in response with a grin. He still couldn't quite believe that the band he once sang covers of on Ashton's living room floor now thought of him as a friend and wrote songs with him for his own album.
'Alright for this next song we're actually gonna have a little help from a friend of ours.' Calum heard Alex announce on stage once they'd finished their song. 'Do you guys wanna know who it is?' The crowd screamed even louder than before if that was possible and Calum turned to Michael in confusion.
'Do you know what's-?' he began to ask, before he saw a tech guy passing a guitar to Michael and his best friend running out on stage.
'How the fuck are you doing tonight LA?' Michael yelled into Jack's microphone as the crowd began to scream his name.
Calum couldn't help but roll his eyes and laugh as he watched his best friend begin to jump around the stage as he played the opening riff of Dear Maria. As his eyes drifted around the stage following Michael bunny hopping off speakers and sharing mics with Alex and stealing bras thrown at Jack he noticed another guy standing back stage. The white t-shirt he was wearing meant he wasn't a crew member and anyway Calum was sure he recognised him from somewhere. That might have just been wishful thinking though because the boy was beautiful, deep golden skin and dark brown hair tousled enough to make him think about running his hands from it. Confetti canons suddenly obscured his view and when the air had cleared he realised the boy was looking at him now as well.
'There's a story at the moment of this bottle.....' Alex crooned into the mic as he finished the song and the boy opposite Calum raised his own beer bottle in greeting as they both sang along with him.
Michael rang backstage a second later, jumping on Calum to hug him as he laughed breathlessly. 'I can't believe that just happened, I just played live with All Time Low.' Calum grinned as he hugged Michael tightly and laughed along with him.
'You killed it.' Calum congratulated him. 'By the way, do you know who that is?' he asked, gesturing over to the other side of the stage only to find it empty.
'Know who?' Michael asked confusedly following Calum's gaze.
'I uh, there was, never mind.' Calum shrugged with a wave of his hand.
'Maybe you should steady on with the drinking if you're seeing things.' Michael chuckled a little nervously reaching out for the bottle in Calum's hand.
'Fuck off.' Calum whined. 'You said I was allowed to get drunk tonight.'
'Alright.' Michael said, raising his hands in surrender. 'Might as well join you then.' he grinned, grabbing a bottle from the cooler behind Calum.
~
'You guys fucking smashed it.' Calum yelled as he and Michael stumbled slightly into the dressing room after the gig was over.
'And looks like you were getting fucking smashed.' Rian laughed as Calum hastily finished his beer and reached for another one.
'Hey remember, we're all on a mission tonight to get Calum drunk off his ass to cheer him up. That includes you Tyler.' Jack said, turning to talk to someone behind him. The someone turned out to be the guy Calum had seen across the stage earlier.
'So you are real!' he said, probably a little more excitedly than he should have.
'Ah yep, definitely real.' Tyler smiled only a bit confusedly. 'Nice to meet you man.'
'I'm Calum.' he smiled back, reaching out to shake Tyler's hand and hoping he didn't come across as too keen. Which he totally was.
'Alright we've done the introductions now who wants to go to The Nice Guy?' Alex asked and Calum and Michael both groaned in union.
'What's wrong with The Nice Guy?' Zack asked in confusion.
'Look you aren't in a band with Luke.' Calum sighed.
'They're close to putting up a plaque for him he goes there so often.' Michael snorted.
'Well we've already got a table reserved there so you two are gonna have to suck it up.' Alex laughed, slinging his arm around Michael's shoulders as they walked off making jokes about Luke happily together.
'Are you coming too Tyler?' Jack asked as the others started to follow after Michael and Alex.
'Only if you buy me a drink.' he winked in what Calum really hoped was a joking way.
'I think Calum looks like he wants to buy you a drink actually.' Jack teased as Calum gave him the finger and secretly prayed that he wasn't blushing.
'I mean I'm down for that too.' Tyler said to Calum's surprise and noticed that when Tyler smirked at Calum like he was doing now his jaw did this beautiful slightly uneven curve that really wasn't fair at all.
'Alright, let's go then.' Calum grinned, still not taking his eyes off Tyler.
'Alright do you two want more time for this super long eye contact or?' Jack asked as he pulled on a leather jacket and moved over to the door.
'Nope that's uh, probably enough now.' Calum coughed as he and Tyler both looked away, trying to hide their smiles.
~
'So, where do I know you from?' Calum asked Tyler as they sat down with the others.
'Probably Teen Wolf, I'm an actor.' Tyler said, leaning in slightly to Calum because it was loud in the bar, not because he wanted to be closer to the other boy Tyler told himself.
'Ah okay, don't think I've watched it. It sounds like kind of a chicks show from what I've heard.' Calum shrugged.
'Hey don't knock teenage girls man, without them neither of us would be where we are today.' Tyler pointed out, taking a sip of his drink.
'Fair point.' Calum chuckled, trying to ignore the way Tyler's eyes looked nearly black in the dark lighting of the bar.
'You're in 5 Seconds of Summer right?' Tyler scrunched his nose up as he tried to remember one of their song names. 'Don't Stop is by you guys right?'
'Oh my god don’t fucking remind me!' Calum laughed, tipping his head back. 'I hate that song. We have better stuff than that I swear.'
'Send me an album, I'd like to hear some.' Tyler suggested, with a trace of that smirk back on his lips.
'And I'll give Teen Wolf a try too, from what I've heard you're shirtless a lot of the time so it can't be too bad.' Calum said, widening his eyes in shock at his words as they left his mouth. He hastily took a gulp of his drink, then realised the tequila was kind of the problem here, and quickly put it back down again.
'It definitely improves the show.' Tyler shrugged, the smirk definitely back on his face now.
'Are you two gonna come socialise with the rest of us or just eye fuck each other over there?' Michael yelled over to them, the two girls sitting beside him that had appeared when they came in giggling.
'We're gonna stick with the eye fucking actually.' Tyler replied as Jack and Alex laughed and Michael just shrugged back.
'Whatever suits you man.' he grinned, giving a thumbs up to Calum behind Tyler's back. ~
The two continued to talk the whole night, alone in their private world of smiles shared between dark brown eyes and fingers itching to run through black curls.
'Do you wanna go outside? They have a little courtyard with some pretty fucking cute fairy lights.' Tyler said, standing up suddenly. 'And it's quieter out there too, it's getting kinda noisy in here.’
'Well how could I turn down the fucking cute fairy lights?' Calum chuckled, following the other boy out.
The night air was warm outside and Tyler was right, the fairly lights strung through the trees were pretty fucking cute Calum thought. They went to lean against a bar which was currently unmanned and turned shyly back to each other.
'I'm really glad we ended up being at the same show tonight by the way.' Tyler said.
'Probably the only useful thing Jack and Alex have ever done for me.' Calum chuckled.
'Do you think you'd want to-' Tyler started before Michael suddenly burst through the door behind them. They both whipped round to face him slightly guiltily.
'We've been looking all over for you guys!' Michael said. 'We're all going to this party with um, fuck I've forgotten her name but she's really hot.'
'Sorry man, I'm catching a flight tomorrow, shit, actually in like 6 hours.' Tyler said as he checked his phone. 'I wasn't planning on staying out this late but uh-' he glanced over at Calum and they shared a brief smile.
'Ah that sucks dude, good to meet you though.' Michael smiled. 'You're coming though right Cal?' he said turning to the other boy expectantly.
'I don't know I'm pretty tired.' Calum said, feeling himself deflate slightly knowing that Tyler was leaving soon.
'Nah you go on without me. You're gonna need some stories to tell when I see you again.' Tyler pointed out with a smile.
'Alright well uh, I'll see you soon then.' Calum stuttered, leaning down to press a light kiss to the other boys cheek. He turned away quickly before he could see Tyler's reaction and followed Michael back into the bar.
'Fuck man, you've fallen hard.' Michael laughed, clapping Calum on the back as he lead him through the restaurant to the door.
'I know.' Calum groaned, dropping his head in his hands. 'What the fuck am I doing?'
'Good luck figuring that one out mate. I'll be here to help you though.' Michael added as the two girls from earlier came back to attach themselves to his arms.
'I don't know if that makes me feel better or worse to be honest.' Calum sighed as they ducked their heads and bundled themselves into their waiting car quickly.
'Hey is T-Pose not joining us?' Alex asked as they drove off.
'Nah he had a flight or something.' Michael said, before turning back to the girl on his left.
Calum leaned his head against the cool glass of the window, trying to make sense of the tangle of emotions he was feeling right now. He felt his phone buzz in his pocket and pulled it out to see a text from an unknown number.
Have fun tonight for me - Tyler
The message read. A second later another message appeared on the screen.
'Not too much fun though 😜
Calum couldn't help but smile and Jack looked over at him.
'Thought I'd help a brother out.' he said with a smile, nodding to the phone in Calum's hand. 'He asked me for it by the way.'
'Thanks man.' was all Calum could say, a grin lighting up his face. He couldn’t help but wonder when he would next see Tyler again.
