#very vaguely employed by office jobs calum and michael

[clumsyclifford]

For the loss thing, 19 with malum?

i think it’s funny that i got this prompt once for malum and once for lashton but since i am a dedicated writer i wrote both so here you go madam distracting kisses from malum + notice by thomas rhett which is a song i’ve been meaning to write a malum fic around for a good while now

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“Calum.”

Calum looks up from his phone and blinks. “Sorry. Sorry. What?”

Michael sighs, defeatedly, and it makes Calum’s heart clench, because it’s his fault Michael is sighing like that, like he should have known better than to expect Calum to be paying attention to him. It’s awful, because it’s not like Calum isn’t trying. There’s just so many people always trying to reach him, so many things he’s expected to attend to, and Michael has started giving him these glares when he checks his phone during dinner, so he has to resort to doing it at other times instead — like when they’re getting ready for a party.

“I asked if my hair looks okay,” Michael says coolly. 

Calum gives Michael a distracted once-over. There’s a really important email on his screen right now but he tries to give Michael his best review.

Michael looks smashing, as always, and his hair is fine, but Calum sets his phone aside anyway. “Let me fix it for you.”

Michael raises an eyebrow. He’s standing in front of a mirror; he can probably see that his hair is fine, but he lets Calum reach up and muss it up a little bit, without complaint. Calum takes a deep breath in as he pats Michael against his chest, once, with finality.

“You look amazing,” he says softly.

Michael shakes his head. It looks like he wants to say something, but whatever it is must get swallowed down by the next comment, which is, “You’re not going to be on your phone during the party, right?”

Calum nods resolutely. “I promised I wouldn’t be.”

“Okay,” Michael says, though he looks skeptical. “I just want you to be there.”

“I will be, Michael. I promised.” Calum kisses his cheek swiftly. Michael doesn’t look reassured, but just shakes his head again and takes Calum’s hand as they go. 

On the drive there, they play Michael’s party music playlist, which is just a lot of old-school upbeat pop punk to get them in the partying mood. Calum expects to hear zero pop punk at the party — no party that requires a suit is going to be playing New Found Glory — but he likes hearing Michael sing along anyway, and even when they park and the music is off, Michael keeps singing the rest of the line, quiet under his breath like it’s just for him. Calum notices; he picks up on the little things about Michael, even if Michael doesn’t believe he does. Like the way he forgets the lyrics to the end of Whiskey Rose and just babbles random syllables instead, tucking a smile away. The way he sways to himself to the phantom beat of the song, like Calum’s not standing a foot away watching him.

The party is in full swing on arrival; as soon as they’re in, Michael is swept up by Ashton, who hands him a glass of red wine and tugs him away without ceremony. Calum shrugs off his coat and tosses it onto the bed through the open doorway to the right, with all the others. He’s lost Michael, but that’s fine. Calum can be a social creature. Just because these are Michael’s work friends doesn’t mean Calum can’t find common ground with them.

“Hey!” Calum looks up, and it’s Luke. Thank God.

“Luke,” Calum says, relieved. “I was worried I wouldn’t know anybody else here.”

“You won’t know most people,” Luke says, grinning. There’s a flush on his cheeks, like he’s been here for awhile. “Don’t worry. I’ll introduce you.”

Luke and Ashton are Michael’s closest friends from work, which means Calum has met them enough times to consider them friends too. They’re lovely people, and also very sociable, which is to Calum’s benefit tonight. Luke takes off into the clamor of people and Calum trails behind, wondering when it’s appropriate to steal away to the kitchen for a glass of wine himself.

“So Michael ditched you, huh?” Luke asks as they stroll.

“Ashton snatched him up the second we walked in,” Calum says. “Eagle eyes, that one.”

Luke hums his agreement. “Ah, I’m sure they’ll be back around soon enough. Given Michael can’t stand to be separated from you for longer than five minutes.”

Calum blushes, even though it’s kind of true. That, too, makes Calum feel like shit, that Michael is working so hard to be there with Calum and Calum has been distracted for months. “He’ll have a hard time getting away. He’s looking delicious tonight, I can tell you that.”

“Gross,” Luke says, wrinkling his nose, but he’s smiling. “I don’t want to know that.”

“Seriously,” Calum says, unable to resist bragging a little bit. He doesn’t need to, because Luke has Ashton, but he likes to. “It’s a new suit, and it fits him so well, Luke. You’ll get it when you see him. He’s a knockout.”

Luke laughs. “You would say that.”

“Because it’s true!”

There’s an uproar of laughter from the middle of the room. Calum turns; sure enough, there’s Michael, the center of attention as usual. It doesn’t take long for his natural charisma to kick in, and the mostly-empty glass of wine in his right hand probably helps. Calum can see the dusting of pink across his cheeks. Michael always blushes when he drinks red wine, and it’s a dead giveaway to Calum. 

(Which isn’t to say he shouldn’t drink red wine. As it happens, Michael looks very kissable with a flush on his cheeks.)

“Okay,” Luke concedes, “he does look pretty good.”

Calum chuckles. “Come on, let’s go join the circle.”

“I’m gonna grab a drink,” Luke says. “Want one?”

“Yeah, actually. Thanks.”

Luke disappears to the kitchen and Calum edges his way towards the circle forming around Michael as he recounts a funny story from earlier in the week. Calum knows the story — actually, he was there when it happened, and then heard Michael retell it to basically everyone in his contacts list — but in Michael’s voice it’s just as good this time as it was the first. There’s something so captivating about Michael. He steals the attention of everyone in any room.

The story gets wilder every time Michael tells it. This time, though Calum can see Michael smiling a little bit as he fibs, it ends with, “and the fire alarm still wouldn’t shut up, so Calum smashed it in with a hammer.”

Well. There is no way Calum will be thrown under the bus. As everyone laughs, he sidles up to Michael and plants a kiss on his cheek. “I won’t stand for this slander,” Calum says. “I would never take a hammer to a fire alarm, since I’m not a complete moron.”

“Hey!” Michael protests half-heartedly.

“Michael smashed the fire alarm,” Calum tells the group, and they laugh at that, too.

“Okay, well it wouldn’t shut up!”

“I’m not saying you shouldn’t have,” Calum says, with a winning smile at Michael. Michael rolls his eyes fondly, moving to brush his hair away from his eyes. Calum resists the urge to do it himself, just for a chance to see Michael’s green eyes glitter the way they do whenever Calum does anything sweet. These days, the look is tinged with hesitance, so Calum doesn’t do it as often. “I see you’ve made the wine your bitch tonight.”

“Do you want me to get you a drink?” Michael asks.

Calum shakes his head. “Luke said he would.”

Ashton peeks his head around Michael. “You know where Luke is?”

“Right here!” Luke says brightly, showing up on cue with two glasses of wine. One he hands off to Calum, and from the other he takes a sip.

“I’ve been looking for you,” Ashton tells him.

“Well, you found me.”

“Well, good.” Ashton grins at him. “There’s someone I want to introduce you to, come with me. See you two later!” 

Calum and Michael wave as Ashton pulls a dimly protesting Luke away to some other part of the room. The crowd has dispersed now that Michael’s no longer speaking, and Michael looks at Calum and smiles.

“I’m happy you’re here,” he says.

Calum returns the look. “I’m happy I came.” The weight of the unread emails, all the correspondence he needs to get to, all the people asking things of him, sits heavy on his chest, but he forces the thought out of his mind. Michael wants him to be present, and Calum is going to be present. He’s done a bad enough job as it is.

“Michael, hey,” says someone, and Calum turns to see two people approaching, both dressed nicely. Michael waves amiably.

“Oh, Calum, this is my boss Alex Gaskarth and his husband Jack,” he says. “Alex, Jack — my boyfriend Calum.”

“Finally, the boyfriend Calum!” Alex says, holding out his hand to shake. Calum accepts. “I don’t think there’s a single recorded moment of company time where Michael isn’t talking about you, so it’s nice to put a face to the name.”

“You know, that’s so funny,” Calum says. “I was going to say the same to you.”

Alex laughs. Calum decides to like Michael’s boss, although he’d already kind of decided that the day Michael came home gushing with the story of his promotion and the way Alex had watched him burst into tears in surprise and then patted him on the back until he’d calmed down, without telling anyone.

“Cal, would you mind —” Michael holds out his empty glass of wine, a hopeful smile across his face. Calum sighs. 

“If I must,” he says.

“That’s it,” Jack says. “Put the boyfriend to work. If he’s not working for us I have to assume he’s a slacker.”

“Jack, you don’t work for me,” Calum hears from Alex as he makes his way to the kitchen. He snickers.

The kitchen is calm and quiet, except for a few murmured conversations in corners. Calum uncorks the wine and fills Michael’s glass. After a moment’s thought, he drains his own glass, then immediately refills it. In the safety of the kitchen, Calum is sorely tempted to check his messages. There’s probably something urgent in there, something that can’t wait for this party to end — someone waiting on an immediate response, or requesting advice that won’t be pertinent anymore tomorrow. Calum’s supposed to be responsible. He’s expected to deliver. And Michael won’t know, because Michael is chatting up his boss.

But even as his fingers itch to check his screen he sighs, takes a swig of his wine, and steels his resolve.

Michael said no checking his phone. Whoever needs Calum can wait. If it’s that urgent, they shouldn’t be asking Calum anyway, not on a night he specifically explained he’d be needing time away for. 

This is the least Calum can do. He owes it to Michael. And, quite frankly, he owes it to himself. It’s possible that work stuff is starting to take over his life, and equally possible that Calum should start trimming down the amount of time he’s actually expected to be on-call.

Slowly he makes his way between people in conversations until he finds Michael again, mid-conversation with Alex about stuff that sounds very businesslike.

Calum kisses his shoulder as a greeting, holding out the wine glass, and Michael ignores the kiss, though he takes the wine. Jack smiles cheekily at that. Calum wraps his arms around Michael’s neck from behind and kisses him again between his shoulder and neck, then on the back of his neck, then just underneath his ear.

“Calum,” Michael says distractedly, turning to face Calum. “I’m in the middle of —”

“Don’t let me stop you,” Calum says sweetly. “By all means.”

Alex grins like this is funny to him. “Yeah, by all means, Michael.”

Michael huffs. “I was saying — I figured there had to be a faster way to move the files, right?” Calum presses a kiss to his temple, then moves his head to the other side of Michael’s face and continues down that way. Jack’s grin grows. So does Alex’s. “The file transfer protocol we usually use was crashing, so I was doing everything by hand, which — Calum!”

Calum stalls in the middle of kissing Michael on the corner of his mouth — a feat in and of itself, because Calum really isn’t tall enough to reach that far, but not for lack of trying. The wine in his glass sloshes dangerously. Possibly Calum should drink it.

“Yes?” Calum asks innocently.

Michael shakes his head. “You’re impossible. I’m so sorry about him,” he tells Alex and Jack. Jack gives Calum a secret thumbs-up. 

“No, it’s really fine,” Alex says. “If only my own husband loved me that much.”

Jack makes an offended noise. “I could assault you with kisses!”

“Not here,” Alex says, holding up a hand; Jack grabs the hand and immediately starts kissing each fingertip, and Michael snorts in laughter. 

“Well, forget what I was saying,” Michael tells them. “It doesn’t matter. Long story short, there’s a new FTP on my computer. I think I’m going to go discipline Calum now.”

Calum pats Michael’s face, giving his boss and his boss’s husband a cheeky grin that Alex returns wryly. “Have fun,” Alex says. “Michael, we can talk later. Have fun tonight. It’s a party.”

“Yes sir,” Michael says, dry. Then he turns and tugs Calum away, Calum waving a farewell as they go.

“What has gotten into you?” he asks the moment the door shuts behind them. Calum glances around them at the overly neat bedroom — probably a guest room — and furrows his brow. 

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m trying to talk to my boss and you’re, like,” Michael makes a helpless gesture.

Calum frowns. “They thought it was cute. And I was trying to remind you that I love you the most out of anyone ever.”

Michael, in his move of the evening, shakes his head. “By distracting me in the middle of a conversation?”

“Okay,” Calum admits. “In hindsight, not my best move, but it did get you alone.”

“This is my boss’s house,” Michael says. “We are not fooling around in my boss’s house. At a work party.”

“Mhm,” Calum says, stepping closer. “You know, now that I think about it, your hair actually looks too neat. Probably best to mess it up a little.”

“Calum,” Michael says exasperatedly, with an obviously fond undertone. “Come on. What are you doing?”

Calum smoothes the front of Michael’s shirt and sighs. “I just…I know I’ve been bad at, like, being your boyfriend recently.”

“You haven’t,” Michael says immediately.

“I have,” Calum insists. “I know I have. And I’m sorry. I’m trying to be better about it, but I don’t want you to think I love you any less or anything like that. I have a lot on my plate, but that’s no excuse.”

“Calum.”

“You knock me out,” Calum says softly. “All the time. Every single day. I’m the luckiest guy at this party. I’m the luckiest guy in the whole fucking world.”

“Not as lucky as I am,” Michael answers, one hand cupping Calum’s face. “Look, I’m not going to say you haven’t been distant, because you have, but I get it. You’re dealing with a lot of work stuff. I’ve been there. The important thing is that you’re trying.”

“I’m trying,” Calum affirms. “But I could be trying harder. Mikey, come on. You act like you miss me when I’m in the same room as you.”

Michael winces. “It’s been a hard year for you. I know you can’t always be with me. You can’t always be paying attention to me. I’m not the only thing in your life.”

“I’m listening to you,” Calum swears, because he is, when it matters. Out of every voice in the world, Michael’s is the only one Calum would willingly hear day in and day out. “I’m paying attention to the important stuff. Every day I get to notice all the things I fell in love with you for, and I fall in love with you again.”

Michael exhales. “I could be more patient with you. It takes two, you know.”

“Well, nobody said we’re perfect.” Calum smiles and pulls Michael in for a kiss, what he realizes is their first of the evening, not counting the attack leveled against Michael, minutes prior. The tang of red wine is on Michael’s lips, and when they break apart he’s blushing, this time from the kiss and not from the drink. Calum can tell the difference, somehow.

“I think you’re perfect,” Michael whispers.

Calum breathes a laugh. “Well, I know you’re perfect.”

“Mathematically,” Michael says, “I think that should mean we’re perfect together.”

“Don’t bring math into this.”

Michael laughs, crowds another kiss onto Calum’s mouth, and is smiling as he pulls away. “Okay. Back to the party. Together.”

“Together,” Calum agrees, and the word sits comfortably on his tongue. An idea is starting to form in his mind, just bits and pieces, but it involves a gleaming ring and the words I do and Calum suddenly, violently wonders if he has to keep it under wraps, because Michael could ask him right now and Calum would say I do and mean it in his bones.