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They’re all tired, more than tired. Running off of fumes, excruciatingly, painfully tired.
It had been a second day of sitting in a room, and letting person after person come in to interview them. They’d been in Australia five days prior, getting some press stuff done there, and taking a moment to see their families. It was fourteen hours on a plane, where none of them really got the amount of sleep they’d been hoping for. And they had four more interviews booked for the following day.
Ashton was beginning to find walking difficult. Mostly due to how difficult it was to keep his eyes open. He was stumbling around, just trying to put one food in front of the other so he could get home and go to sleep.
“Are we getting dinner?” Luke asked, his eyes shut. He was leaning against Calum’s shoulder, and was probably going to fall asleep before they got home.
“I don’t know if I can be bothered,” Michael said first, dropping his head onto Calum’s other shoulder.
Ashton took a quick photo of the trio from his seat in the front, they were very cute when they were tired.
“We could have toast,” Calum suggested, picking up his phone.
He, like Ashton, would try and stay awake in the car, hoping it would make it easier to fall asleep when they were home. He hoped that would be the case anyway, but Ashton was very jealous of Luke and Michael, who seemed to be knocked out after four minutes in the car.
When it came to it, Ashton skipped the toast, he just wanted to go to bed. They had to be up at six, and it was already half nine, and Ashton knew himself well enough to know it would be at least an hour before he got anywhere near falling asleep.
“I’m gonna go to bed guys, anyone coming?” he asked, pausing in the doorway of the living room.
Luke nodded his head, “I’m gonna have some toast, then I’ll be up.”
Ashton smiled, “Mike, Cal? he asked, looking at the other two, who had made themselves comfortable on the sofa.
“We’ll be up in a little bit,” Calum said, “sleep well Ash.”
“Night guys,” he called, making his way out of the room.
“Night Ash,” Michael called back.
He worried a little about leaving the two of them, knowing how late they could stay up, regardless of how tired they were. All it took was Michael getting into a game, and Calum would join him with very little persuasion.
Ashton went through his usual bed time routine, finding Luke lying on the bed by the time he’d finished. He lay down next to the younger, Luke quickly settling himself in Ashton’s arms. They lay in silence for a while, both watching Luke’s phone screen.
“I’m exhausted,” Luke admitted, putting his phone down.
“Me too,” Ashton replied, pressing a kiss to the top of the younger’s head.
“I don’t want to do anything tomorrow,” Luke whined, curling even further into Ashton’s arms.
“I know,” Ashton sympathised, “but we only have one more day to get through, and then we get a couple of days off.”
Luke nodded against his chest, “I’m gonna use the bathroom, I’ll be back in a sec.”
Ashton checked the time, it was already ten o’clock. He sighed, plugging his phone in to charge, and getting himself properly into bed. It was already too late. Sleep didn’t come as easily as he’d hoped, he felt Luke getting back into bed beside him, and heard as the younger fell asleep before his body relented, and he was finally able to rest.
-
Luke wasn’t beside him when Ashton’s alarm went off, this was a big surprise. He was almost always the first one up, usually having to go around and wake the others up to make sure they got out of the house on time.
He moved through everything robotically, not entirely sure he was in control of his own body. Whatever sleep Ashton had managed was not nearly enough to get rid of the exhaustion weighing so heavily on his shoulders. It made it worse to think he was probably the best rested out of everyone and he was still that tired.
Both Calum and Luke were sitting at the kitchen table, Luke’s head resting on Calum’s shoulder. It would be a cute scene, if Ashton couldn’t see how unbelievably tired they were.
“Mike awake yet?” Ashton asked, stifling a yawn.
“I’ll go wake him,” Luke said, sighing as he stood up.
Ashton put a couple pieces of bread in the toaster, and turned around to face Calum, “he okay?”
“Tired, a bit under the weather, as expected really,” Calum replied, letting his head rest on the table.
“Are you okay?” Ashton asked again, a deep frown growing on his face.
“Tired, a bit under the weather, as expected really,” Calum repeated, “how are you?”
“Exhausted, I can’t remember ever feeling this tired,” Ashton said, popping toast up to check how it was doing, good enough, “what time did you and Mike come to bed?”
Calum lifted his head, “I was asleep by midnight.”
“Oh, that’s not too bad-”
“But I woke up at four, and couldn’t go back to sleep. Luke came and joined me downstairs just after five.”
“Aw mate, that sucks,” Ashton said, spreading vegemite onto his toast.
They sat silently at the table while Ashton ate, both just fighting to keep their eyes open. Luke returned with Michael five minutes later, and Ashton wasn’t entirely sure Michael was awake. The four of them got into the car, Luke and Michael falling asleep almost instantly once again.
The journey was not quite long enough to properly relax, and all of a sudden they were being bundled into a room, getting ready for their first interview. It was hard to keep energy up, difficult to be any kind of interesting when all they could focus on was the exhaustion deep in their bones.
Ashton was very glad it was nearly over. Through the last two interviews, he’d felt Calum getting more and more tense, far past the limit of his social battery, and Luke on his other side, leaning into him more and more. Michael didn’t look great either, his arm was fidgeting behind Calum on the back of the sofa, and had been getting increasingly restless. Ashton found himself taking over more of the talking, letting his younger bandmates shut down, it was almost over.
They thanked the interviewer, and Michael and Calum left the room as fast as they could, leaving Luke and Ashton on the sofa. Ashton would have been quicker, but Luke was practically lying on top of him at this point.
“Come on mate,” Ashton said, shaking Luke’s shoulder gently, “let’s go home.
Luke nodded his head, slowly standing up. He stayed close to Ashton, resisting the urge to hold hands while they were still in the public eye. Calum and Michael were waiting just outside the door, both staring vaguely at their phones. Calum had a pair of headphones over his ears, likely playing music loudly enough to drown out all other sounds, and Michael had one earphone in, his free hand fidgeting as he waited.
They didn’t speak on the way to the car, accepting that Calum would have the front seat so he didn’t have to sit too close to anyone for a moment. Ashton was quite glad really, letting Luke sit in the middle, the younger’s head falling onto his shoulder.
“I don't feel good,” Luke mumbled about halfway through the journey.
It was no real surprise, Luke's immune system was pretty rubbish at the best of times, they were lucky he'd lasted this long before crashing.
“I know mate,” Ashton sympathised, “but I'm sure you'll feel better after a dose of panadol and a decent sleep.”
He wrapped his arm around Luke, running his hand up and down the younger’s arm. They stayed like that for the rest of the journey, Luke staying quiet and still, but very much awake, and Michael passed out on his other side. Calum was probably awake in the front, waiting till he was home to finally crash.
Ashton was worried. He was exhausted, and knew his bandmates were probably even more exhausted. So much of their job was amazing, and he knew how lucky they were, but this bit of the job sucked. The fact their management had fitted so much into such a short space of time, that every night was a late night, and every morning was an early morning, the fact they had to work themselves until they literally had nothing left.
He was the grown up of the band, the dad of the band, he always had been. And for the most part, that was fine, but right now, when all Ashton wanted to do was to fall into bed and sleep for twenty hours, it was frustrating to need to be the one to make sure everyone else was okay.
It wouldn’t stop him doing it though. Wouldn’t stop him from making sure Luke took some medicine, and had a big glass of water by him. Wouldn’t stop him being there for the youngest when he came down with something, and was extra needy. It wouldn’t stop him from making sure Michael went straight to bed, instead of trying to play a game. As much as his bandmate needed the down time that playing a game gave him, he needed the sleep even more. Wouldn’t stop him from sitting with Calum until the younger was ready to be held and get some rest. He’d do it all one hundred times to make sure they were all okay. He would absolutely be doing it tired though.
Michael woke up when the car came to a stop, though Ashton wasn’t sure he was completely awake. He was staring straight ahead, trying desperately to figure out what was going on around him. Ashton got out of the car, Luke still sticking to his side like a magnet, and walked round to make sure Michael could actually get out of the car. Calum got out as well, quick to walk into the house now he was finally home. The other three followed behind, and Ashton had an arm around each of his boys, wanting them to be close to him.
“Go get comfortable,” Ashton said as they slid their shoes off.
The two boys nodded, falling into step with each other now Ashton wasn’t there. They looked small somehow, which was crazy to even consider with how tall they were, but neither were walking to their full height, the exhaustion getting them to close in on themselves.
Ashton filled up four glasses of water, and grabbed a sheet of panadol to take upstairs with two of them. Luke was sitting on the edge of the bed, dressed in a pair of joggers and a hoodie that was way too big for him, eyes barely open.
“Here,” Ashton said, passing the glass of water over, “take these before you fall asleep,” he continued, popping two pills out and handing them to the younger.
Luke nodded, taking both pills, then placing his glass on the bedside table. He curled up under the covers, pouting as he was alone.
“Will you stay?” Luke asked, a whiny tone to his voice.
Ashton smiled fondly, “stay with Mike for now, I’ll be back in a bit,” he said, putting the second glass on the other bedside table.
Luke pouted, though he was too sleepy to really fight, especially when Michael came back from the bathroom, and crawled into bed beside Luke.
“There’s water and panadol if you want it Mike,” Ashton said, then left the two boys to it, they’d be out in seconds, the exhaustion too much to fight.
Ashton quickly changed into something more comfortable, then made his way back downstairs to see how Calum was doing. The younger was on the sofa, a blanket pulled over his shoulders, and his headphones still on. Ashton grabbed the other glasses of water, then took a seat on the sofa, careful not to get too close to Calum.
He sat on his phone for a while, trying to keep his eyes open while he waited. It was a challenge, Ashton was pretty certain he could fall asleep standing up, but he wasn’t going to rest until he knew Calum was okay.
Eventually a hand moved beside him, the headphones being taken off. Ashton winced when he heard how loud the music was, he was getting old.
“Sorry,” Calum mumbled, moving closer to Ashton, “you should be asleep, I’m sorry I kept you up.”
Ashton shook his head, “no, I chose to stay awake, I didn’t want to go to bed without you there,” he said, lifting an arm up so Calum could rest against him, “do you wanna talk about it?”
Calum shrugged, “I don’t feel well,” he said, “and I really wanted to sleep, but everything was just really loud.”
Ashton placed the back of his hand on Calum’s frowning when he felt the heat, that wasn’t good. It wasn’t normally Calum who did that, it was normally just Luke, but they were all just so rundown, it was no real surprise.
“I know love,” Ashton said, “do you think you can go to sleep now? There’s some panadol upstairs, that will help with your fever.”
Calum nodded, taking hold of Ashton’s hand as he stood up. They picked up the glasses and walked together, Ashton guiding Calum to sit on the bed once they were upstairs. The other two were no longer in the middle of the bad, having somehow migrated to the other side, which was no bad thing.
Ashton popped two more pills out, and handed them to Calum, before finding something for his younger bandmate to put on. He picked out a pair of Luke’s joggers, and one of Michael’s massive hoodies, knowing that would help Calum feel safe, which was really important.
“Get changed, I’m gonna go to the toilet quickly, okay,” Ashton said, placing the clothes on the bed beside the younger.
Calum nodded, though he made no attempt to move at first.
Ashton let the tiredness hit him as he went to the toilet, he was really looking forward to going to sleep. His boys were safe, and soon they would all be safe and soundly asleep in the bed with him, he couldn’t ask for much more really.
Calum had curled up next to Luke by the time Ashton had returned, but he turned around as he heard Ashton.
“You sleep now,” Calum murmured, his whole body relaxing as Ashton wrapped himself around the younger.
They were all exhausted, very much in need of a long sleep, but everything felt a little bit better now they were all laying in the same bed. Ashton let himself drift off quickly, unable to stave off sleep now he knew everyone was okay.
They were all going to be okay.