"Hey," Calum whispered in a dragged out way as he opened the door ever so quietly, he returned the grin that Mali had given him wholeheartedly. With minor difficulty, Calum revealed the bear he'd been holding behind his back. It wasn't much, he had snatched it from the gift shop as he passed as a second thought. The bear was larger than you'd expect despite being only a handful of change that Calum produced from his pocket at the checkout, it was like in colour with a white tummy that had get well soon stitched into the soft fur.

Mali probably knew he'd fished random amounts of change from his pocket to buy it last second, she didn't mind. With the smile only a sister could give her beloved brother, she ushered him over and mumbled a scratchy hello.

"How are you?" Calum asked, smiling flattering a little as he got closer, she had a few bandages and bruises but it was the wincing as she sat up that made him fully realize that she'd been in a car crash.

"Better, you?" It was an easy response, a safe one. One that only Mali could pull off with such ease, but Calum knew she'd tell him how she felt in the future so he didn't pester.

"I'm--I'm okay." Calum mumbled, tripping hastily on the words that tumbled off his tongue. In his mind, it was the simplest thing to say without a single stutter or awkwardness. It was like the communication between his brain and his vocal chords were under repair, it got the message through but it still turned out to be terribly preformed even to his standards.

Mali's smile was back and she patted the hospital's white sheets next to her. "C'mon baby brother, tell me what's got the famous Calum Hood all red in the face."

Her last couple words caught him off guard, Calum hadn't even realized the warmth in his cheeks until she'd pointed it out.

He sat down with a rattling sigh, "Remember that boy I was telling you about over text?"

The tired smile she'd had on her face grew into a full blown shit eating grin, she punched Calum's upper arm weakly with a laugh. "Do I have to kick some ass?"

It was nothing more than a joke to loosen Calum's strain a little bit he could really imagine Mali kicking Michael's ass if he gave the go ahead.

"Nah, boys are just so.... complicated all the time." Calum whined, throwing his head back exaggeratedly. "And I used to think girls were bipolar."

"Tell me about it," Mali chuckled and rolled her eyes at her brother playfully. "Guys are the worst."

He was a split second away from nodding in agreement when he recognized the mischievous smile present on her lips. "Hey! I'm a guy!"

It took awhile for the two of them to settle down but they both got comfortable before Mali finally brought up Michael once again. It wasn't like Calum wasn't expecting her to ask, it still made him turn pale pink under the fluorescent hospital lights. The question was simple, but the possible answers were catastrophically different with paragraph upon paragraph, he could fill a book with the answer to her question.

"Tell me about him," a simple request, reasonable coming from anyone really but even more so family. She didn't even say his name and they both knew automatically, like the blush that rose onto his cheeks.

"U-Um, his name is Michael. He's a Scorpio, he likes long walks on the beach and his work hours leave a lot of time for him to get frisky."

Mali narrowed his eyes at the boy in front of him, "Don't start referencing tv shows, I asked you to tell me about him."

"None of those were a lie, I'm sure his work hours do allow for him to get frisky if he chose to." Calum laughed when his sister started smacking him. He coughed, as if that would stop his teasing or sarcastic retorts from slipping out. "Okay, okay. Michael's... interesting? He's definitely something, he dyes his hair apparently. I've only seen it brown and purple but he told me he used to dye it all the time in high school. Him and his friend Luke are total nerds, not even the stereotype lives up to how nerdy they are, they don't even look like they'd read a comic book much less collect them. They're all black clothes and tattoos but as soon as they start up a conversation after a few beers, it's straight to Aquaman and astroboy or some shit.

"He's really talented too, I guess you need to be if you work in graphic design, but he drew me in a minute and I looked like cartoon character, it was amazing. He really doesn't have any flaws... Maybe two. First he likes Manchester more than Liverpool," Calum stopped to give Mali a pointed look, because she also liked a football club that wasn't Liverpool. "And he drinks beer at eight in the morning and that kind of worries me."

His sister looks at him for a long moment, the kind where seconds felt like hours. A broad smirk played on her lips, "You like him."

"He's attractive, who wouldn't-" Calum attempted to reason despite the warmth he could feel rushing up his neck.

"You like like him." She clarified, although it was obvious that both of them knew. Calum realized fretfully that he was trapped, Mali had acquired a vicelike grip on his wrist without him noticing until now. A glance out the window showed the weather had only gotten drearier since he'd gotten to the hospital, not even the tourists could stand to be out and about.

It seemed childish, that even now as adults, the two of them still used the term like like instead of love or fancy, or even crush. All those seemed much more extreme than like like, it was a safe term for describing a feeling, an umbrella term.

"Maybe."