#calum hood fanfiction

just a couple of the cutest humans on the planet no biggie.

‘tis the damn season - calum hood

summary - based off of the song “’tis the damn season” by taylor swift from the album evermore.

request - yes! thank you @nicebasscalum for this lovely request, this is one of my fav songs on evermore and sorry it took so long to get to you. i hope its kind of what you had in mind.

warnings - none

word count - ~2.3k

a/n- i’m so sorry for not posting as frequently, I’m trying to only write when I feel driven or passionate so I don’t make it not fun for myself. I’ve also been really busy with school but I hope you guys like this, I had a lot of fun writing it.

This town reminded you of your formative years, of careless summer nights and flying down back roads with the windows down. Of backyard fires and cheap alcohol. It reminded you of him. His deep brown eyes and the way his hand fit in yours. Of all that might’ve been. 

The inside of the grocery store was warm in contrast to the brisk air in the parking lot. What had your mom said she needed? You tugged a crumpled post-it from your jacket pocket and read through the short list a few times over, committing it to memory, and then tucked it away again. 

You walked through the familiar aisles, memories of sitting in the cart while your mom did her shopping flooded back to you. It even smelled the same as you remembered. 

You hadn’t been home since last Christmas so one would expect some things might’ve changed, but home was always the same. The same people, the same stores, the same weather. 

You met his eyes over the produce section while he shoveled apples into the little plastic baggy. You wanted to scold your hands for trembling and your heart for doubling in speed at just the sight of him. Of the green hoodie you’d seen a million times before and the black leather jacket that no matter how tattered it got, he’d never part with. You returned the soft smile he gave you and so he made his way over, his eyes never leaving yours. They were just as piercing as you remembered.

Always the same, not one dark curl out of place.

“Back home for a bit?” He rolled his cart up next to yours.

You nodded, swallowing hard. “My mom promised me homemade pie so I made the trip.” Maybe jokes would help diffuse the tension.

He smiled but didn’t laugh. “Her pumpkin pie is unmatched, I’ll admit.” You began to mull through the aisles together, stopping to grab things here and there. It felt oddly comfortable. Domestic. You pushed away the thought. 

“I would tell her you said that, but her ego is too big as it is. She wants to make a recipe e-book.” 

Calum shook his head like he was reminiscing on your past. Your mother had always loved Calum — you complained she did even more than you. “She has dreams, goals. That’s respectable,” he countered, fighting a smile like he wouldn’t give you the satisfaction. 

“The woman makes one good pie and thinks she’s Rachael Ray.” This comment forced a small laugh out of Calum, breaking through his stoic facade. You could understand why he was guarded considering what had happened between you. It hurt you that you had hurt him.

“Hey, I’ve been hanging with Jenny, Kate and the boys and they’d all love to see you again. Maybe we should plan something while you’re home,” Calum offered. You ignored the fact that he included his ex girlfriend in that list.

You nodded softly, feigning excitement. “Yeah, that sounds great.” 

He smiled. “Great.”

You knew how much it hurt Calum when you left. You and him were so alike and yet, so very different. You were driven and ambitious and high strung while Calum never forgot to stop and smell the roses and would give up anything and everything for the people he loved. You wished you could be like Calum. You wished you weren’t so ahead of yourself all the time.

You couldn’t remember the last time you smelled the roses.

Your need to get out, your itch to see bigger things, Calum didn’t understand it. He saw your little home town as the entire world. Because your little home town was you. And Calum’s world began and ended with you. 

“I’m staying at my parents house,” you said.

Calum looked up and for a second you saw something in his eyes flicker. Like yearning.. or hope. “If you wanted to stop by. My moms itching to see what you think of her new apple pie recipe.”

Calum laughed and you admired the way his eyes crinkled at the corners, his smiles took over his entire face. It was a direct reflection of how Calum felt emotions, entirely and completely, all consuming.

“Tell her I’m there.”

You grabbed a box of cake mix and tossed it in your cart, completing the list. “Well, I better get going. I guess I’ll be seeing you soon.”

Calum nodded. “Yeah, soon.” He looked like he might say something else, but then changed his mind. 

You waved goodbye and turned left, leaving Calum to head towards checkout. 

Calum didn’t like watching you walk away. It brought back a kind of pain that wouldn’t dissolve completely. Because he couldn’t get himself to let go of you. He knew what he was signing up for if he got too close again, but he just wasn’t sure if he could help it.

On your way home, you tried to ignore the lingering strands of red and green lights and wreaths. Even well after Christmas, the decorations remained, making you feel nauseous instead of cheerful. 

You passed Calum’s parents house, their white siding and deep red door looked the same as they did when you were kids. 

You could almost smell the chalk and freshly cut grass and almost see the pink, blue, green and yellow drawings scattered down the driveway and sidewalk. You could almost picture Calum’s dimpled smile and your scraped up knees. They were simpler times.

The happier memories were quickly replaced when you moved your attention to the porch, covered in snow at this time of year.

The chirping of cicadas surrounded you as soon as you shoved open the screen door, storming down the driveway towards your beat up gray Camero.

“(Y/n) if you leave now, don’t bother coming back,” Calum shouted from the front stoop. You heard the crack in his voice, the emotion. You didn’t need to turn around to see it.

You stopped dead in your tracks, cringing at the rough scratch of your converse halting on the eroded pavement.

You turned your head slightly, but changed your mind. He didn’t understand. He would never understand. This town, this life, it would never be enough for you. 

You couldn’t get yourself to think it, but he… he alone would never be enough to fill the emptiness, the want. You yearned for a life outside the town limits. You didn’t want to order takeout from the same Italian place on Grove Street, you didn’t want to be shut in for months of cold, wishing every day for summer, you didn’t want to live the rest of your life as a nobody. You had to get out. You had to make something of yourself. And Calum didn’t understand why his arms weren’t enough to keep you warm on those cold December nights. Or why his company didn’t make the same old Italian takeout taste like the best meal you’d ever had. 

Calum wished he could fill the void in you, Calum selfishly wished you would stay. And you selfishly knew you couldn’t. 

A truck was parked in the lot of the old school, the place you lost your first tooth and found your first love.

The truck reminded you of Calums, of the warm, sticky summer nights spent out living like every day was your last. 

Screaming at the top of your lungs to dumb old pop punk music with all the windows down, muddy tires, fireflies and trips to the lake. You’d never been happier than you were in the passenger seat of that beat up old truck.

You couldn’t get his smile out of your mind, he was everywhere in this town. He was in the trees, smiling down at you with missing teeth and that same cheeky grin, he was at the diner sitting across from you sharing his fries after you said you weren’t hungry, he was on the sidewalks, falling off his skateboard but getting up every time and trying again, he was at the record shop, flipping through vinyls and sticking his tongue out at you from another aisle. He was everywhere and you couldn’t take it anymore. 

Your tires screeched on the slushy pavement as you took a hard right, heading for Calum’s apartment complex. As you drove, you passed Calum’s college and admired the huge Soccer field he must love playing on. As you stared, you noticed a curly brunette kicking a ball alone, with only a shirt and sweatpants on, completely disregarding the frost covered ground and the freezing air.

You couldn’t help but smile at his persistence, that kid never looked out for himself and you always had to be there to do it for him. Until you weren’t, and he had to learn how to cope.

You pulled into the parking lot, throwing the car into park. Your hands shook with a great persistence but you swallowed down any doubt and slid out of the driver’s seat, making your way to him.

He saw you coming, his eyes flooding with confusion and then softening. He wanted to run to you, to pull you up into his arms and never let go. To listen to every dumb story and be a shoulder to cry on, to watch movies and make meals together, all the little things. But he stood rooted at his place in the field, unable to risk another heartbreak as severe as the last. That left him broken and unable to open his heart to anyone. 

It’s why he hadn’t stayed with Jenny. She could tell his heart wasn’t really in it, that there was a (y/n) shaped space right in the middle of him that never healed. 

Your teeth chattered as you met him in the field. His face now looked hesitant, his guard was up. You wanted to cry because the boy that once trusted you to hold his heart in your hands could barely even look you in the eyes.

“We could call it even,” you whispered. The quiet of the snow all around you and the pale sky was both eerie and perfectly calm. The two of you stood a few feet apart, afraid if you got any closer you wouldn’t be able to stop yourselves from falling back into each other, from preventing what you worked on forgetting for so long. 

“What?” Calum’s eyebrows scrunched together and your hand flinched. You wanted to reach out and touch his face.

“We could sleep in half the day.” You blinked away the tears forming in your eyes. “Just for old times sake. I won’t ask you to wait if you don’t ask me to stay.” The words came out shaky and unsure.

Calum stepped forward, hands reaching out to grab your arms. “(Y/n)…” His voice was gentle. He was in pain. You stepped back out of his reach. 

“Then I’ll go back to LA and the so-called friends who’ll write books about me if I ever make it.” The tears were falling freely now. “And wonder about the only soul who can tell which smiles I’m faking.”

Calum’s eyes were glossed over as he watched you with such intense longing. “(Y/n), please.”

“We could call it even. Even though I’m leaving.” The cold air was stinging your cheeks and all you wanted was to be wrapped up in his arms but he had to understand. That this couldn’t be forever. That you would be gone come Monday morning. He couldn’t count on you and he had to understand. “And I’ll be yours for the weekend.”

He tore his eyes away from you, staring at the snow around his feet, contemplating, thinking. 

His jaw clenched tightly as he thought. When he looked up at you, there was an unmistakable glimmer. Of that boy who wore his heart on his sleeve. “Okay. We can call it even.” The smile that followed was one full of pain but you could tell that he wouldn’t fight you on this. He knew he’d never understand but he also knew that any extra moment he got to spend by your side would be worth it. 

He stepped towards you and this time, you let him. 

His cold hand grazed your cheek but somehow, it was the warmest thing you’d ever felt. “Can I kiss you?”

His deep brown eyes shone with nothing but pure affection. You nodded softly, leaning into his touch.

His forehead fell down to rest gently upon yours and suddenly, nothing around you mattered. Not the honks from down the street or the kids sledding on the opposite side of the park.

Only Calum. 

His free hand rose up to wrap around your waist and you’d never felt more safe. In his arms, nothing could touch you. His fingertips dug into your side like he was afraid you might slip away but you stood rooted, no matter how shaky he made your knees.

He leaned in slowly, his nose brushing ever so softly against yours. His lips hovered above yours and you felt the warmth of his minty breath. Your hand ran up his neck into his hair, scratching softly, and his grip tightened around your waist.

With one more look at your rosy cheeks, Calum swept down and pressed his lips against yours and it felt like the very first time. The tugging in his chest exploded. You clung to him for support, fearing if you let go, you would collapse into the snow. 

His lips were soft and molded perfectly with yours. You moved in sync almost like you had never left.

When Calum forced himself to pull away, he saw your clear eyes meet his and was convinced it was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. 

And as you and Calum walked back to your car, laughing like you hadn’t spent a single day apart, you thought the road not taken looked really good now. 

That this unrealistic standard you had set for your life of luxury and fame wasn’t actually what you had been looking for to fill that void in your heart. 

That maybe, it was right in front of you all along.

Josie’s P.O.V. 

I was greeted in a commotion of people, a mixture of fans and paps who had just found my location after days of hiding.

According to a girl standing amongst the barricaded fans, I had been caught in one of Alex’s wedding photos and they had known since the wedding was over that I’d be back in town for my album release any day now, and they were right.

But once airport security led me outside, I had been forced to enter a car waiting in the front lot, not being able to go anywhere else without a crowd following, but I complied hearing the driver say that Kate sent him.

Before even arriving home, the driver immediately took me to her office. I hadn’t checked my phone since my last argument with Luke the day before, so only God knows what she has in store for me.

Once I entered the building, instead of being greeted with the bright faces of some of the workers, they gave me small smiles, others gave me puzzled looks as if they didn’t expect to see me for some odd reason. The most memorable one was small whisper of “good luck” that Kate’s secretary gave to me before leading me to her room. But entering it was an entirely new playing field.

“You didn’t answer your phone. Hell, you didn’t even have your phone on for the past few weeks. I was running your social media every single day bullshitting whatever the fuck I could until I finally got a hold of you!” She yelled once the doors closed behind me

“You act like you don’t control my social media accounts even when I am on my phone,” I rolled my eyes unphased by her attitude

“You haven’t checked your accounts at all, have you?” She groaned before tossing her phone at me

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” I basically yelled back at the sudden hit of her phone

“Look at it! Look what you’ve fucking missed!”

When my eyes finally averted to the screen, it showed the picture that Jason had been threatening for weeks now to expose, the picture that Luke had seen the day before, the picture that ruined everything between us. But I had no emotion towards any more. I wasn’t hurt that he had leaked it, I knew it was going to happen one way or another, he wanted his fame and he got it. But I know that is not at all how Kate feels about it. 

 "So?“ I shrugged in annoyance turning her phone off and tossing it on one of her couches 

 "So? What do you mean so? Your album release is literally days away! You’re supposed to be the golden child right now! Not the slutty pop star!” She yelled in aggravation as I just sighed 

 "You’re my publicist, fix it,“ was all I said to her before finally leaving. She was not finished with me, as I opened the door to her office, she was still yelling, but I couldn’t care less. Her screams were mumbles to me at this point. All I could focus on was how every step away from her carried me closer to my bed, and I needed sleep more than anything at this point. I had slept on the plane ride back, but I was still drained, mentally and physically. Everything was dull around me for the time being, there was nothing I could handle with my full capabilities, it was like my strength has left the second my plane boarded for lift off in the East Coast. But I guess that’s how all break ups are.

I’ll get over it, I know I will. I have to. 

 Luke’s P.O.V. 

 No one had spoken to me after Calum left my room that morning. To be quite fair, I didn’t put myself out there to start any conversations. On the plane ride to Sydney, Calum and Michael spoke with each other, Ashton had his head phones in, and Julia was sleeping. But being in the same cabin with all of them was never so restless. I couldn’t look at Calum without thinking about how angry he was at me, knowing how Michael is, I know he is just as mad at me. I couldn’t look at Ashton without remembering how he kissed Julia right in front of me, how both of them looked so surprised to see me walking into my own band mates room. It made me think about how long they’ve been keeping their relationship a secret behind my back, had it even been as far as when I was almost in love with her? 

I told her everything, what if she told them in return?

As I sat in my seat, all I could notice was the amount of lies floating around in front of me. Calum and Michael were mad but they didn’t know the truth. Ashton and Julia betrayed my trust by not telling me the truth. And here I was, alone because I finally faced the truth.

Nothing good ever comes out with honesty, I guess. You expose yourself to the fact of the matter, but no one is ever the winner after that.

 Ashton’s P.O.V.

Once we landed in Sydney, everyone went their separate ways meeting up with their parents, but since Julia’s couldn’t make it, I offered to take her back home with which she responded with much refusal. 

"It’s fine, Ashton, be with your family, I’m going to take taxi,” she excused herself 

 "My mom would never forgive me if I told her I let you go off on your own,“ I reasoned 

 "Then don’t tell her,” she spoke back with sass in her voice as she lugged her suitcase around to the front of the airport 

 "Julia, just let me take you home,“ I sighed 

 "No,” she stated plainly before going onto her phone to call for transportation, but I took it out of her hands before she could speak 

“Ashton! Don’t be annoying, I’m calling a fucking taxi, alright!” She exclaimed, catching me off guard at the aggressiveness of her tone 

 "Why are you so pissed off? Can’t we just talk about it on the drive back to your place?“ I asked 

"That’s why I don’t want you to take me home, I don’t want to talk, not now.” She explained, but I couldn’t accept that. 

If we didn’t talk now, she would come up with some other excuse to why she was feeling this way to spare my emotions, but for once, I needed her to say exactly how she was feeling now, no matter how much it could hurt me. I’m tired of all these games, all the different stories, I needed something real with her, and I needed it now.

‘We have to do it sooner or later!” I basically yelled, clearly agitated by her attitude. But the fact that we were in a crowded airport did not help my case. My voice caught the attention of many onlookers trying to figure out why the hell I was yelling, but that also drew focus on me. It wasn’t long before some fans caught a glimpse of me and began circling around us trying to ask for a picture without being rude.

“Great, now look what you’ve done,” She mumbled before pulling her suitcase to her side to begin walking

The fans had made a clear exit for her by spreading themselves to leave a pathway for Julia to walk through, but I couldn’t let her go now. Despite the growing crowd, I had followed behind her, ensuing a brisk walk from the fans also trailing behind us. 

“Just leave me alone, Ashton,” She said trying to shoo me away, but I couldn’t take that

“Not after we talk,” I argued as she continued to quicken her pace

It wasn’t long before some girls began to grow impatient at this waiting game, so I heard my name being called multiple times behind me. The first time, I said to give me a second, but all the rest, I unintentionally ignored. I zoned a lot of the voices out except for Julia, since she was all that mattered right about now. 

“You have people to attend to,” She told me as an excuse as I scoffed

“You only have one person to attend to and you can’t even do that,” I retorted before almost running face first into a celphone forced in front of my face for a selfie. I had to physically stop myself at that point so I didn’t bump into anyone. I knew at my frame, if I kept going, I was bound to hurt someone on accident which the tabloids would eat up. I quickly took pictures, while trying to keep my eye on Julia who was still making her way to the pick up area at the airport were cabs would wait, but I lost her in the sea of people in front of me.

“I’m sorry, I’m really trying to talk to that girl again,” I apologized to the fans as a lot of them sighed. Seeing the sadness in their faces, made me second guess my words though. As I was just going to continue taking pictures of them, airport secuirty began to force their way through before asking everyone to disperse. They told me that they had my car waiting in the front being fully aware of the commotion that our band would be today, so I obliged not wanting to start anymore trouble. As I was led to the front of the airport, I spotted Julia there calling for a taxi. 

Julia’s P.O.V.

I was waving for a cab over and over again just trying to get the hell out of this location, but I could hear Ashton and his fans coming closer and closer to the airport exit. I quickly ordered an uber, knowing that if taxis weren’t an option, uber was just as reliable. I was right seeing as there was a huge line up of drivers near the airport to pick up people arriving or departing. It only took seconds for the car to arrive right in front of me. The driver was even nice enough to bring my suitcase into the trunk.

“Hi, is this for Julia?” I asked him as he nodded

I smiled slightly to be polite before opening the car door. I looked to my right, watching the hoard of fans nearing closer to me just before entering, but the second I turned left, I found Ashton sitting right next to me.

Chapter One