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Luke didn't need a partner, he just... He needed someone to talk to per say. Luke was more than comfortable with his sexuality, he just didn't want anyone else to know what his sexuality was. He'd come up with a plan after hearing his best friend, Calum, talking about an app that he'd used to meet hot girls from other schools in the area; Tinder. Luke was resorting to using a dating app to meet boys.
He connected it to his facebook profile pictures, choosing his interest as men and picking all the other settings out. When he was done, he looked at the first man who had popped up, clicking on the X because he was far too... muscled for Luke. He began wading through the men, matching the ones he liked after checking their profiles. This wasn't too bad, quite easy actually.
Soon enough, he stumbled across someone he knew. What he didn't know, was that Michael was, feminine per say. The picture was of Michael Clifford, a person who Luke had seen around school and been introduced to once because of Calum. Michael had purple hair, delicately sweeping across his forehead and his lips were pouty and had a layer of shiny lipgloss covering them. Michael wore a black shirt, cut down to reveal a lot of his pale torso and half showing one of his nipple; pierced. He didn't even know Michael was gay. He hesitated. He wanted to make friends, that's what he could say to Michael, just to see what happens. Luke pressed match, deciding to go off the app and go onto YouTube to watch some videos.
*
Three days later, Luke had almost completely forgotten about the app. He was in school when the notifications popped up.
One New Match!
Mikey. G Messaged You!
Luke hummed, going into the app with his phone angled under the table, making sure nobody else could see the screen before clicking onto the message.
Mikey. G : ...you're Luke Hemmings.
Luke : ...yes I am.
Mikey. G : your interest is men.
Luke : so is yours.
Mikey. G : touché.
Luke laughed, continuing to talk to the boy and hoping he'd be able to keep the secret. Not even Calum knew about Luke's sexuality, and Luke wanted it to stay that way. He was quite popular, being a jock. He was one of their schools best football players and proud of it too. It got his name blasted everywhere, all over the school and the town and his private life never managed to stay private. Luke didn't want to ruin his perfect image by admitting that he was into boys instead of girls. It's a cliche really.
*
Three weeks later, Luke had Michael's number in his phone and the biggest crush on the galaxy haired boy. They texted everyday, once doing a Skype call that got out of hand very, very quickly (Luke had seen some things that still popped up in his dreams, and in the shower, always in the back of his mind really.) At nights they talked on the phone, Luke admitting his sexuality one time and Michael doing the same (followed by said Skype call) and Luke was just...maybe not in love, but falling fast. Luke looked at the new picture message that Michael had just sent him, a mirror selfie with his tongue sticking out and his hand in the punk rock signal. He wore ripped jeans and a Led Zeppelin shirt. Luke looked down at his similar outfit, seeing the only difference being that the band on Luke's shirt was Iron Maiden and he smiled. They really were quite a match. Luke copied his selfie pose, taking the image and sending it before hearing a door slam from the front room.
"Honey, I'm home!" Calum called out.
"Kitchen!" Luke yelled back, pocketing his phone before Calum had the chance to steal it and try to see who Luke was texting again.
"We," Calum strolled into the room, "are going out. You're dressed; good. Get your keys." Calum saw the keys on the counter and lit up, grabbing them in one hand and beginning to push Luke out of the house with the other. "There's a big group of us going to the cinema, we're going to see that new horror; Unfriended."
"I heard it's shit." Luke stated, grumbling. He didn't want to go out today. As soon as they were out of the house, Luke's phone buzzed and he pulled it out of his pocket, immediately replying to Michael's message as Calum locked his front door. Luke and Calum started to walk down the street together, the cinema only being a 5 minute walk away from Luke's house. Luke was still texting on his phone.
"Who is that?" Calum moaned for the thousandth time since Luke had got Michael's number. Calum tried to look over Luke's shoulder at his phone, seeing only the letter 'M' at the top of the screen with a heart. "Who's the girl, Hemmings? Miley? Molly? Meredith?"
"Meredith?" Luke echoed. "Yeah, I'm sexting my nan on the regular now." Luke angled his phone away from Calum as he continued to compose the text. "Idiot." Suddenly Luke's phone was snatched from his hands, Calum taking a running stride down the street. "Hey!" Luke yelled after him, beginning to run too. Normally he didn't run but...well this was his secret. It wasn't hard to figure out that Luke and Michael were both boys and both extensively flirting by looking at the messages. Luke and Calum were both fast, both playing football on the same team and both very good players. The height helped too.
Calum turned a corner and the cinema came into view. Calum was still too engrossed in the phone to see the large group of people from their school sitting outside of it. Luke fastened his pace, pushing his legs muscles to the limit and gaining on Calum. They were a few meters from the cinema when Luke jumped on Calum's back, tackling him. Calum buckled under the weight but managed to stay up. Luke saw him click onto something and then the phone fell out of his hands, landing a few feet away from them onto the concrete floor. "Fuck Cal! My phone!" Luke cried, jumping from Calum's back and grabbing his phone. The screen had three huge cracks down it but what Luke was focused on was the picture on it. A picture of a shirtless torso and lower half of someone's face, fingers shoved into their mouth and dribble running down their chin. It was obviously a boy. Michael. Luke blinked, looking back to Calum wide eyed. Luke had nothing to say, just letting his mouth hang open and dry up.
"Hey blondie!" Hands were suddenly wrapping around Luke's neck, a brunette cheerleader popping into his view before he hugged her to his chest, still keeping eye contact with Calum. "How y'doin' Lucas?" Kendra asked him, hugging him close before pulling back. Luke chucked his arm around her shoulder, naturally pulling her under his arm.
"Not bad," Luke cleared his throat. "You alright?" Luke asked her, briefly looking away from Calum to connect eyes with her. Kendra frowned.
"Come on," Kendra pulled him, "you can sit with me." She pulled him away from Calum and to the big group of people, everyone immediately greeting him with smiles and fist bumps. Kendra waited for him to greet everyone before pulling him to one side. "Y'alright, love? Really now?" Kendra was easily his best female friend but even she still didn't know his secret. Nobody did, except Michael.
"Yeah, Cal just found out something I didn't want him to. I don't know how he's going to react. It'll be alright." Luke let her pull him into a hug before another small group of people was showing up, Luke pulling away and tucking her under his arm again. Two boys walked up to Luke and Kendra, one of them tall and blonde and the other hiding behind him.
"S'my date. Ashton." Kendra introduced, Luke's hand leaving her shoulder and instead joining with his.
"Hey, man." Luke greeted. The boy behind Ashton snapped his head around, joining eyes with Luke and Luke's face practically lit up. "Hey." Luke greeted Michael. Michael started to blush, bringing his hand up to wave before dropping it by his side.
"This is Michael. I dragged him away from FIFA for this so..." Ashton shrugged, Michael blushing even harder.
"Yeah, I was dragged away from my house too." Luke explained, casually throwing his arm back around Kendra when seeing Calum walking towards them. Kendra looked at Calum's rushing figure and stone face and started pulling Luke behind her, pretending to be in conversation with him.
"Cut the shit," Calum sneered at them both. "Can I speak to you, Luke?" He grabbed Luke by the forearm, starting to drag him away.
"Ow," Luke muttered. "Alright, asshole retreat the claws. Can we not cause a scene here?" Calum turned, seeing two strange boys and Kendra staring at them both. Calum locked eyes with Luke. They needed to talk about this, Calum couldn't sit through the whole film with these images in his head.
"Alright, I'll leave it- if you tell me what I'm thinking about you right now isn't true." Luke looked back at Kendra briefly, hopefully giving her a pleading look that said get me out of this and she stepped forward, standing right next to Luke and staring Calum down. "This is none of your business." Calum told her. "Back off."
Luke stared at Calum disbelievingly, putting an arm around Kendra and seeing Ashton and Michael both awkwardly take a few steps away to the left of them.
"Stop drawing attention to yourself." Luke hissed.
"You mean to you?" Calum retorted.
"You wanna do this here? You want to have this conversation with me in front of the whole football team and every cheerleader in our school?" Calum's eyes darted around, looking at everyone, most of whom weren't even paying attention. Calum caught sight of Michael, who ironically was staring back at them, and literally looked him up and down before his eyes flicked back to Luke, an unhappy look on his face. He recognised Michael then.
Calum looked back at Michael, frowned and then caught eyes with Luke again. Luke pulled his arm from around Kendra and pushed Calum away. "Don't do that."
"What?" Calum taunted, eyes flicking to Michael again. Luke pushed him again, harder, Calum stumbling back into another cheerleader. She turned around, Luke recognizing her instantly and smiling. She waved at him and turned back to her conversation. The guy next to her, a fellow footballer turned around instead, eyes falling on Calum and Luke.
"Are you guys seriously fighting again?" He asked, sighing. Calum and Luke were best friends, honestly, but sometimes they just disagreed on... Well, everything. They always seemed to get into fights and arguments no matter how hard they tried not to. "I mean, come on, you'll be friends again in like, an hour. Save yourselves the stress."
Calum looked at Luke, glancing at Michael and watching Luke's jaw tighten. He smirked.
Luke took a threatening step forward before the football player, Jared was stepping forward too and grabbing Luke's shoulders, guiding him away from Calum. "What happened this time?" Jared asked him, leading him to a group of his teammates. Luke looked back to Kendra, Ashton and Michael, all of them watching him.
"Save me a seat." He mouthed to Kendra and turned, looking back at Jared.
"I need new friends man," Luke laughed, brushing it off. "Don't worry about it." But in the back of his mind, Luke knew he needed Calum to be okay with this. Calum was his best friend, of course he loved the footballers and the girls, but Calum was his number one friend. He needed Calum whether he wanted to need him or not.
Luke fell into easy conversation with the other footballers, laughing along at their stupid jokes and joining in talking about the national games that had been on lately. A few more people showed up, the group getting bigger before they were all walking into the room together and buying tickets. Luke kept talking to Jared as they lined up, animatedly talking about their next game and how they should put in more practise before it. Luke saw they were only a few people from the front and patted Jared on the shoulder.
"I'm sitting by Kendra so I'll line with her, yeah?" Luke said, then leaning into his ear. "By the way man, Amy has a huge thing for you." Jared's eyes flicked to Amy, the cheerleader blushing and then looking away. Luke smirked at him and started to walk away.
"You're my main, Luke. I love you, man!" Jared shouted after him and Luke laughed loudly, his eyes still crinkling as he got to Kendra. Kendra smiled at him as he got there, Luke throwing an arm around her despite Ashton standing just behind her.
"Whys he loving you?" Kendra asked.
"Told him about Amy. Honestly, she's been pining and I'm sick of hearing 'Oh my god, Jay, your legs look so great in these shorts. Yes, Jay, score! You're so fab, Jar.'" Luke made his voice high pitched and girly, Kendra laughing loudly. "There's only so much I can take."
"You just get that on the pitch, girls locker rooms are a whole different story." Luke nodded, reaching the counter and letting Ashton and Kendra fall in front of him. Luke fell into step beside Michael, his breath catching in his throat. Luke noticed Ashton paying for Kendra's ticket and glanced at Michael, smiling.
"Hey," Luke said quietly. "Sorry, there's a lot of drama today. Calum's pissed at me." He explained quietly, barely looking at Michael because of his embarrassment. He stepped forward when Ashton finished paying, greeting the cashier with a beaming smile. "Could I have two tickets to Unfriended and a large coke please?" The cashier printed them, handing them to Luke before going to fill his drink. Luke turned and pressed one of the tickets into Michael's chest, Michael's hand coming up to hold it into place before it fell.
"You didn't have to." Michael whispered, giving Luke a fond smile and gripping the ticket. Luke grinned to himself, pulling out his wallet and handing the cashier the money. He told her to keep the change, grabbing his coke and walking over to Kendra and Ashton who were both giving him a certain look that he couldn't decipher. Michael followed him, thumbing the edges of the ticket and smiling to himself. They all walked to the screen room together, following the rest of the group with a few others trailing behind them. They walked into the screen room, following everyone else to the back and clambering into the seats. They all managed to take up the whole left back corner. Ashton went down the third row, Kendra following, Luke behind her and then Michael trailing behind him. They sat down in that order and a few cheerleaders sat next to Michael. Luke felt a tap on his shoulder and looked back to see Jared and Amy sitting together, Calum next to Jared with his arm around another cheerleader. Luke smiled at Jared.
"Alright man?" Luke asked him.
"Yeah, dude," Jared tilted toward, between Michael and Luke and speaking right next to Luke's ear. "A few of us are going back to mine later, have a few drinks and stuff while the parents are out. Keeping it low though. You in?"
Luke thought about it for second, the outcome; he would just be drunk with a few mates, end up half naked and outdoors because of a 'wild' game of truth or dare and one of them would end up walking him home and complaining about it to him for the next few weeks. "I'm good, man." Luke laughed. "Got some stuff to sort out, you know?" Jared sat back into his seat, still smiling and just nodding at the blond. Amy started to talk to him and like a true gentlemen, all of his attention went onto her.
"You're such a jock in real life." Michael whispered with a snort. "Football dude, yeah man, just call me Luke the jock."
"Yeah?" Luke whispered back, tilting his head towards Michael but keeping his eyes on the screen. "Well you're not half as confident as you are on Skype in real life." Luke looked at him then, a smirk on his lips as he kept his lip ring tugged into his mouth. Michael's mouth dropped open before he laughed, eyes crinkling cutely. Michael shook his head.
"You're different." Michael whispered finally.
"What does that mean?" Luke asked him.
"Like you're different when you talk to me compared to everyone else." Luke looked to Michael again, picking up his drink and wrapping his mouth around the straw before sucking. He took the straw out of his mouth again, ready to answer him.
"Cause when I talk to you I don't have anything to worry about." Luke smiled sincerely, connecting eyes with Michael just as the galaxy boy smiled. "I got impress you somehow, may as well be truthful about it."
"Honestly your legs impress me enough." Michael whispered, grinning and looking down at his knees before back at the screen. Adverts were playing but Luke was paying no attention to them.
"There's the confidence I know and love." Luke muttered. The cheerleader sitting next to Michael suddenly turned around, smiling at the two boys.
"Hey, Luke. Who's this cutie?" Jade, head cheerleader, asked. She bopped his nose with her nail, smiling wider as Michael blushed.
"This cutie is Michael." Luke teased, doing the same to Michael's nose. "He actually goes to our school."
"Michael," Jade repeated, nodding. "It's nice to meet you." Jade out her hand out, Michael's sliding into it in a handshake. "I'm Jade, but you can call me anytime." Jade giggled and okay, she was flirting with him. That's no big deal, Luke can handle that. The lights suddenly went down, Luke seeing Jade smile at something Michael said and lean closer to him. "So do you have a phone number, Michael?" Luke slipped his hand onto Michael's thigh, jealously surging through him.
"Uh, I can't sorry. My girlfriend gets really possessive." Luke squeezed Michael's thigh, because he was definitely happy with that reply. That would do just fine. No cheerleader, friends with him or not, was going to steal Luke's man.
"I'm just gunna go to the bathroom real quick before the movie comes on." Michael announced, standing up and letting Luke's hand drop from his leg. Jade nodded with a smile, everyone else busy in their own conversations. Jade turned to Luke as Michael left the aisle.
"Does he actually have a girlfriend or is he blowing me off?" She asked him with a frown.
"A jealous one." Luke stated with a sympathetic look. He shrugged as she pouted, nodding and accepting it. Luke stood up quickly, surprising her.
"He's probably got the right idea, going to the bathroom before the movie starts." Luke explained to Jade before shuffling past all the seats and running down the steps. He ran out of the door, catching Michael's hair in his line of sight just as the boy walked into the bathroom. Luke ran after him and barged into the bathroom, letting out a sigh of relief when seeing Michael being the only one in there, staring back at him with wide eyes. Luke stalked over to him in large strides, grabbing Michael's cheeks and pulling their lips together. "Mine." Luke mumbled as an explanation. Luke continued to kiss him, arms going around his middle and pulling their bodies together. He kept his lips moving against Michael's as he backed them into a wall, tilting his head down as Michael's knees buckled and he sank down the wall a few centimeters. Michael continued to slide down the wall, Luke half pushing him with his lips, until Luke was bending over to keep kissing him and Michael was almost sat on the floor.
Luke licked over Michael's lips, parting them before licking into Michael's mouth and tangling their tongues. He stepped forward, leaning down until his legs were around Michael's and they were at the same level again, sitting on the bathroom floor. Luke pushed his tongue into Michael's mouth again, taking it back before biting down onto Michael's bottom lip and pulling away with it between his teeth. He let go of it, going straight to Michael's neck and starting to suck hard. People would see that Michael was taken. He sucked harder and harder until he had no air left in his lungs and he had to pull away. He looked at the spot, breathless, seeing a blood red mark where his mouth was. Luke nodded, kissing Michael's lips again before pulling away.
"You good now?" Michael asked him. Luke nodded, pulling the bottom of his T shirt up to wipe his chin. It had gotten a little messy.
"Yeah," Luke answered breathlessly. "I uh, got a little carried away there. Sorry."
"It's alright."
"Okay." Luke nodded, standing up and putting a hand out to pull Michael up too. When Michael was stood up, Luke couldn't help himself, leaning forward and pressing their lips together again before hastily pulling away. "Jesus, what the fuck am I doing? I'm practically attacking you. Are you okay?" Michael smiled and laughed at him, nodding wildly.
"If I wasn't okay with it, I would've been screaming by now."
"That's...good, I think?" Luke's eyebrows furrowed before he looked back to Michael's face again, catching sight of his very red lips. "So can I...?" Luke asked, looking at his eyes before his lips again. Michael kissed him then, softly joining their lips together instead of Luke's harsh kisses. He moved slowly, almost chastely and Luke was fighting back a smile. When they pulled away again, Luke glanced down to Michael's neck, seeing the redness already turning into a dark purple. He ran his thumb over it. "Don't cover that. I'll see you back in the room, okay?" Luke leant forward, chastely kissing him one last time before running out of the bathroom.
He got back to his seat in record time, Jade giving him a smile and gesturing to the movie that Luke had obviously missed the beginning of. Luke settled back into his chair, picked up his drink and began to watch. It was only a few minutes later when Michael sat down next him, keeping his eyes firmly on the movie too. Luke put the drink down on the armrest between them and didn't blink an eye when Michael picked it up and began sucking on the straw. When Michael put it back down, he linked their pinky fingers together under the armrest, hoping nobody could see it.
*
"Well, that fucking sucked." Michael stated as the movie ended. Luke laughed under his breath, squeezing Michael's hand that had somehow ended up tightly wrapped up in his own. Michael's thumb was still rubbing over his knuckles softly and the feeling gave Luke tingles. Everything Michael did was chaste and soft and Luke was the complete opposite. People started to stand up, Luke and Michael waiting for a few more seconds and Luke squeezed again before reluctantly letting go of Michael's hand. They stood up, everyone else around them already doing the same and the large group walked out together again. As Luke was walking down the steps, he felt a tap on his back. He turned his head, seeing Calum walking behind him.
"You going to Jared's? Free booze."
"You're going too?" An excited voice was behind him and Luke awkwardly smiled at Jade.
"I'm going." Kendra shrugged and Luke didn't even know she was walking with them.
"This is the peer pressure you warned me about Mom." Luke joked and everyone around him laughed.
"Michael and I are going." Luke heard Ashton mutter and alright, that changed everything.
"Are we all convincing Luke to hang out with us?" Jared muttered, suddenly joining their small group and throwing an arm around Luke. They all walked out of the cinema together, congregating on the steps again as they waited for all the others. "Come on, Hemmo. Live a little." Jared winked and Luke laughed, shaking his arm off after seeing Michael scratching his neck. He got the message, 'people can't touch me but they can touch you?'
"Fine," Luke pretended to be bothered by the idea, all of them seeing right through him because Luke was a terrible liar. "A few drinks. For my fans." Luke teased, smiling as a few more people walked over to them to join their conversation. Everyone was friends with everyone when they were out in large groups, that was always a silent rule and Luke loved it.
"Is that a hickey?" Luke heard Ashton ask and it wouldn't have received any attention if Luke's head hadn't snapped straight over to them, looking directly at the blotch on Michael's neck that Ashton was questioning. Michael mumbled an 'uhm,' before Ashton was talking again. "I swear to god, you didn't have a hickey when we went in there." Luke had to remind himself to breathe as everyone starting 'ooh'ing and chanting, even the girls were laughing and smiling along.
"Who gave you a hickey then, loverboy?" Jared asked Michael, being his usual friendly, teasing self. Jared could easily make friends with anyone. Michael covered the spot on his neck with his hand, blushing at the attention.
"Hey, don't cover my handiwork. I'm proud of that." A female voice was speaking out, joining the group and brushing Michael's hand away. Luke gulped as he locked eyes with Jade, but he couldn't help but let out a breath of relief. He wasn't ready for everyone to know yet, Michael wasn't either. They were both happy with just, talking in secret. The people in their group started getting louder, some patting Michael on the back and the girls teasing Jade. Luke looked away frowning, because it shouldn't be someone else saying that, but one day it won't be. One day they'll all know.
"Back to my place then?" Jared asked them all once they'd quietened down. "We can walk from here." He turned, cupping his mouth before shouting out to the rest of the group. "Back to my place, we have vodka and cheap beer!" A cheer sounding out around the whole group, some coming up to Jared to tell him they couldn't come along. About fifteen of them ended up walking down the streets together, Jared's house not being too far from Luke's. Luke fell into step beside Jade, letting them both fall behind.
"It was only obvious at first because I saw your hand on his leg. I figured that wasn't a bro thing." Jade told him quietly. She stopped walking, pulling him into a hug. "I've got your back, Luke, you know that, right? We've all got your back." Luke pulled back, keeping his arm around her as they walked and holding her close to him, a silent thank you.
"I'm just not ready yet. He's not, either." Luke looked down. "My mom doesn't even know."
"That's fine," Jade whispered to him. "You know we're all here for you though, that's all I'm saying. I promise it won't even come out of my mouth but if you need to talk to someone I'm here. I got you, Luke."
"We made out in the bathroom." Luke whispered and Jade laughed loudly, leaning into him and squeezing her arm around him as they walked. "Like, I'd never kissed him before today and I followed him to the bathroom and we started making out."
"Shit, Luke, I love you." Jade laughed, wiping under her eyes and trying to put on a serious expression when seeing Luke's face. "Good for you. He's hot."
"He's mine," Luke muttered. "I marked him, he's mine." Jade laughed again, throwing her head back. "He's so great though, soft and cute; like a kitten."
"I'm guessing you've never had anybody to talk to about this?" Jade asked and Luke shook his head.
"I didn't need to talk about it until he came along. I'm like a girl with a high school crush now." Luke explained quietly, seeing them catching up to the large group in front of them because they were reaching Jared's house.
"Wait, you aren't dating him?"
"It's like we are," Luke explained quietly. "We talk on the phone every night, text constantly, skype every so often. We just don't..."
"Go out?" Jade asked with a frown. "Well you're out now. Make some moves, make it official?"
"We made out in a bathroom!" Luke yelled suddenly. "What else is there to do?" They reached Jared's house, all of the others waiting outside for them and Jade was too busy laughing to even notice. Luke looked to her with a pout, pulling his arm from around her.
"I'm sorry," Jade said, wiping under her eyes again. "It's just... Oh, my innocent little Lukey. We need to protect you." Jade noticed they were outside of the house, everyone else talking as Jared unlocked the door. They all piled in as soon as it was open, going straight down to Jared's basement where the liquor was and taking seats on the sofa's around the room. Luke sat next to Michael, throwing an arm up on the sofa around him casually.
"You alright?" Luke asked him quietly, smiling when a girl handed both of them a beer.
"Your friends are nicer than everyone thinks they are," Michael told him just as quietly. "But if one more person touches you I'll accidentally smash up their car." Luke giggled, just wanting to grab Michael and kiss the jealousy out of him.
"Well I got my pretty little mark on you, gorgeous." Luke flirted, flicking the hickey on Michael's neck before casually leaning back into the sofa, now with a smirk on his face. He was definitely proud of that one. Michael blushed, pressing his fingers to the mark again.
"You're right, I should get to have one on you-" Michael stood up.
"Wait, I didn't mean-"
"Follow me up, yeah?" Michael asked him and Luke nodded, cursing when Michael walked up the stairs, claiming he had to make a phone call. Luke quickly ran over to Jade, waiting for her to finish talking to one of his teammates before slightly pulling her away from him.
"I'm uh, going upstairs," Jade nodded confusedly. "With Michael." Luke added in a whisper, Jade's eyes widening. "Cover for us?" Luke asked hopefully. Jade nodded, grinning and giving him a thumbs up. He turned, quickly ran up the stairs before anyone but Jade could see him leave and turned a corner. Michael grabbed his hand, pulling him through the house blindly and leading him up the next set of stairs. The reached the hallway, all of the white doors being closed. Michael kept a tight told of Luke's hand, opening the first one and seeing a bathroom. He pulled Luke along to the next room, Jared's room as Luke remembered it and pulled him inside.
"So what- straight to business then." Luke gave a surprised commentary as Michael went straight to his neck, leaving light kisses everywhere . He closed the open bedroom door with his foot, falling back against it. Michael practically made out with his neck before kissing up to his mouth and connecting their lips. They continued to kiss as Michael's hands went up Luke's shirt, feeling over his stomach.
"You have abs," Michael murmured like he didn't already know it. He ran his hand over them again, kissing him harder. "I'm gunna look fat next to you." Luke pulled back, looking right at Michael as his head dropped. Luke grabbed Michael's hand, pulling him over to the bed and pushing him to sit down.
"You're not fat." Luke told him, not really having anything else to say.
"I don't have a flat stomach." Michael replied and he didn't have to add the 'like you,' that Luke knew was on the tip of his tongue. Alright, so Luke needed another approach. Luke pushed Michael back so he was lying on the bed and climbed so he straddled him. He pushed his hands under Michael's shirt, rolling it up so it bunched and revealed his stomach. Michael watched with wide eyes as Luke put his lips to his tummy, softy kissing it everywhere.
"Beautiful," Luke said between kisses. "I love it." He kissed up Michael's body, skipping over his bunched tshirt and going straight for his lips. "I'm pretty much obsessed with you." Luke told Michael, kissing his lips softly. "Now I believe I was promised a hickey?" Michael smiled, leaning up to kiss Luke's lips again before going to his neck. Luke shuffled up his body, making his lower neck more accessible. Michael shifted Luke's shirt down with his chin, latching his mouth onto Luke's collarbone and starting to suck. Luke put his hands on Michael's soft tummy, rubbing over it as Michael left the mark because he did love Michael's body. It was beautiful.
A sudden knock was on the door before it was flung open. Luke pulled back from Michael, both of them springing apart completely and looking to the door. Jade was closing it urgently behind herself and looking back at Luke.
"Calum's on his way up here. Luke, he... He has a big fucking problem with you." Jade explained as an apology, running over to the bed as Michael pulled his shirt urgently back over his body. "Cover your neck." Jade told Luke. He pulled his shirt up over his collarbone just as the door opened again. Jade casually placed her hand on Michael's thigh and looked to the door, leaning into Michael on the bed as if she'd been there all along instead of Luke.
Calum and Jared walked into the room, closing the door behind them. Jared looked to Michael and Jade on the bed, his eyes widening.
"I thought-" Jared started, eyes darting between Luke and the two people on the bed. Luke shook his head, speaking and cutting Jared off.
"You didn't," Luke accused Calum. "Tell me you fucking didn't." Calum had the nerve to look guilty as Jared nodded slightly. So he knew, alright, everyone was finding out today. Luke turned away from everyone, walking over to the wall and putting his fist to it. He dragged his knuckles against the bumpy wallpaper, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down. Suddenly the door opened again, Luke turning as Kendra and Ashton came into the room and Luke wanted to cry- no he wanted to punch Calum. He couldn't decide.
"Can I talk to Luke for a minute? Can you all just get out for one minute?" Jade asked. Ashton and Kendra walked back out, Jared following before Calum did the same. Michael stood up, with shaking hands and walked over to the open door. Luke closed it before he could leave, looking back to Jade. Jade, without saying anything, walked over to the window and started looking out of it, ignoring the two boys completely.
Michael placed his arms around Luke and hugged him, all soft and warm and this was what Luke needed. He wrapped his arms around Michael's waist, his fingers joining at the small of Michael's back to keep him into place. Luke collapsed back against the door, letting Michael's arms hold him up as the galaxy hair began to tickle his neck.
"You're alright." Michael told him, squeezing him tighter and kissing his earlobe.
"I'm so sorry." Luke whispered to him. "Calum's being a dick and I don't even know how many people know now-"
"It's fine," Michael cut him off. "It was about time I told Ash anyway to be honest. Let's just worry about you for now; they're your friends."
"Hey!" Jade cut in. "I thought we were friends too."
"Okay a few of them are my friends too." Michael added with a small a chuckle. "You deal with this however you want and I'm still here, okay?"
"Okay." Luke echoed. He tilted his head towards Michael's kissing him chastely before pulling away from the hug. Jade 'awe'd and Luke knew she watched the whole thing. He didn't mind though, she'd only found out today and Jade had already done a lot for him. Luke adored some of his friends.
Luke went to sit on the bed, pulling Michael with him to sit down too. He sat against the headboard, Michael sitting cross legged at the end of the bed. Jade sat on there too, sitting next to Luke who didn't hesitate to put an arm around her. Michael pouted at him and Luke stuck his tongue out, laughing.
"Look how jealous he gets." Luke nudged Jade. She turned, smiling at Michael who's pout only got bigger.
"Says you." Jade replied, gesturing to the dark hickey on Michael's neck. Michael blushed and put his fingers on the mark again. Luke, deciding to end Michael's jealously, pulled his arm from around Jade and instead leant forward to grab Michael, pulling him between his own legs and wrapped them around Michael's waist to keep him there. Michael shuffled to get comfy and leant his head back onto Luke's crotch, pulling out his phone and holding it to hover above his head so he could scroll through twitter.
Luke started talking with Jade again, this time about football and Jade's idea of a new routine for the next game. They spoke for a good five minutes.
"I'm thinking we switch up the pyramid," Jade exclaimed. Luke nodded for her to continue and played with Michael's hair, raking his fingers through it. He only remembered the people they'd kicked out of the room when the door opened again and they all started to walk back in. "Like, I'm normally at the top but I think I'd be better in the middle or at the bottom, you know? Claire is struggling to hold people up because she's so small so I'm thinking we have her on top." Luke nodded, the conversation ending there as they both looked to the door. Calum, Jared, Kendra and Ashton all watched the three of them, Michael still on his phone between Luke's legs, Jade and Luke in animated conversation as Luke played with Michael's colourful hair. It was a rare sight.
"Ooh yeah, I forgot we kicked them out." Was the first thing said. Luke half smiled at Jade's comment, still nervous but not letting go of Michael's hair. They all stared at the three, mostly at Luke and Michael for obvious reasons.
"Are you going to stare at me or are you going to ask questions like you want to?" Luke asked, mainly directing his attention onto Calum. He was still annoyed that Calum had told Jared, god knows who else and even Ashton and Kendra were here too and obviously knew something. Luke was- well, just annoyed. Slightly relieved, but mostly annoyed.
"I don't exactly understand..." Calum started quietly but didn't bother finishing his sentence.
"Are you an idiot?" Kendra asked him. "Is this actually news to you?"
"Hey!" Luke interjected because nobody knew about Luke's preferences but Michael, or so he thought.
"Oh, come on Luke, we've been friends since you started playing football. Half of the cheer team has their suspicions." Luke raised an eyebrow at Kendra and she continued. "When hot girls who wear short skirts flirt with you and you don't flirt back, they talk. All of them. A lot of girls have had a crush on you and you have not dated anyone for our entire friendship."
Michael snorted lowly and Luke tightened the hold on his hair, silently telling him to shut up. Michael continued to scroll through twitter.
"Can I add to this and say I had no fucking idea." Calum raised his hand.
"Dude, come on, seriously?" Jared asked, eyes widening when Calum ferociously nodded. Luke's eyes were wide because apparently there was some 'Luke is gay' conspiracy going around for quite some time now.
"It was not that obvious." Luke argued quietly, trying to convince himself.
"Last year, Amanda tried to kiss you and you said-"
"I wasn't into her like that which is a valid reason to not kiss someone." Luke cut Kendra off.
"Amanda's hot!" Kendra argued back.
"Are you coming out here or am I?" Everything went silent at Luke's statement. Michael, upon hearing the words, dropped his phone onto his face, letting out a choked cry before mumbling and picking it back up again. Luke let his eyes flicker to Michael before looking back up at the group. "I- I'm gay. There." Luke let out a breath. "Damn that was easier than I thought it would be." Michael snorted again, clicking onto a picture of Harry Styles and humming. "Stop." Luke told him under his breath. Michael smirked before clicking off the picture and refreshing his timeline.
"And you and Michael are dating- who by the way, is supposedly straight too. How did you two even meet?" Ashton asked. Luke and Michael, simultaneously, looked at each other. Both having the same thought of no, we're not telling them we met on tinder; that isn't even an option.
"That is none of your business." Luke told Ashton with a smile, not meaning to offend him by it even though the statement was true.
"For the record, I am gay too. We are apparently in this together." Michael stated, not looking away from his phone. Luke wondered how he could come out so nonchalantly when he'd never done it before. They really must be in this together.
"No shit?!" Ashton acted surprised and Michael smiled, still not looking away from the phone screen. He went off of twitter, going onto notepad instead and typing out a note to Luke.
This better be worth it, the note read. I expect to be serenaded with flowers and love songs. I've just come out for you, Hemmings.
He tilted the phone to Luke's face, Luke reading over the note with a growing smile on his face. Luke put his arms around Michael's face, the sleeves of his band shirt covering Michael's eyes as he typed a note back.
Flowers and love songs, baby.
"Awe." Jade cooed, reading over the notes and Luke turned to her with a scowl.
"Stop watching everything we do." He told her. "It's creepy." And when Luke looked up, not only was Jade watching them interact, but so was everyone else in the room. "Jesus Christ." He muttered, taking his arms from around Michael and leaning back into the headboard again. "Right, okay, I'm out. Go away now." Luke shooed everyone.
"Don't do anything on my bed." Jared muttered before walking out.
"Do it." Jade whispered, doing the same.
Ashton gave a nod to Michael and Kendra smiled at Luke, both of them grabbing the others hand and walking out together. Calum looked at Luke and Michael again, this time only the three of them in the room.
"I overreacted," Calum admitted. "It's nice to meet you, Michael and I'll be buying Luke a new phone because of your bare chest. Peace out." Calum walked out, closing the door behind him and Luke could finally let out his nervous breath that had been held in. Calum was fine with it, that was the important part. Everyone knew, but at least everyone was nice about it.
"This has been one weird ass day." Michael dropped his phone onto the bed, turning over and pulling Luke down on the bed to cuddle him. "I just came out. So did you. How d'you feel?"
"Like I want to make out with you for the next four hours."
"Only four?" Michael asked. "Then what, you gunna break up with me?"
"You'll have to be my boyfriend first." Luke smiled, leaning up and putting his lips to Michael's cheek. The silent question was out there.
"I thought that was implied when you attacked me in the bathroom to mark me your territory."