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Cleaning up the apartment wasn’t really what Michael had in mind for his day off, but here he was. He had other things planned, like… okay he really just planned on doing nothing and watching movies or playing video games all day, but you can’t really blame him for not wanting to clean. It’s just that Luke was incredibly messy and he left a trail of mess everywhere he went. He’s leave his clothes, both dirty and clean, strewn all over the bedroom. He had piles of dirty dishes in the sink. And let’s not even think about the bathroom. When that boy gets out of the shower, it’s like a tsunami had just ripped though there. There’s always puddles of water everywhere, wet and dirty towels lying in a heap on the floor. Clothes thrown everywhere as well. Michael loved Luke with all his heart, but Luke’s messy-ness was just not something Michael could handle anymore. Luke needed an intervention or something, seriously.
Michael had finished up the kitchen, bathroom and living room, and now he was going to attempt to clean his and Luke’s shared bedroom. This one was going to take a while. He should be making Luke clean all of this himself, but he was out writing today and Michael knew that most days after writing, Luke would come home exhausted and just too tired to even change from jeans to sweats. So Michael knew there was no way he’d want to clean.
The older boy started by picking up all of Luke’s clothes. He sniffed them to see what was clean and what was dirty, making separate piles for each. Michael himself was a pretty organized and cleanly person, Luke on the other hand- not so much.
“God, this is horrible,” Michael scoffed, picking through Luke’s pile of laundry. “’M definitely having a talk with his messy ass when he gets home.”
He was on his hands and knees now, trying to fish a pair of Luke’s pajama pants out from under the bed. Luke will just throw his clothes wherever he pleases, not caring where they end up.
“You fucker,” Michael groaned. “Come on, I can’t reach!”
The sight was definitely something else. Michael on all fours, half of his upper body under the bed as he cursed loudly, trying to reach the pajama bottoms. His tiny arms just a hair too short to actually reach what he was trying to get at.
After a minute or two of trying to reach them, he finally grabbed them, cheering happily. He sniffed them, checking to see if they were dirty or clean. The gag he let out indicated that they were definitely dirty, so into the dirty pile they went.
He got back down onto his hands and knees a final time, just to ensure that there wasn’t any more clothes under the bed- nothing. But he did spot a box that he’d never seen before. He pulled it out, brushing the little bit of dust off of it.
Inside the box was a bunch of pictures. Luke was a sucker for keeping things like this. He liked to make memories and he always needed some sort of physical proof of them. He was always printing pictures that they’d taken or saving little trivial things like movie ticket stubs. He just liked having things he could look back on years from now when he’s 60 and can remember what it was like to become a rock star at the young age of 15.
Some of the of the photos on top were of Luke and his family; some of just Luke himself. He rummaged through the box, picking up a stray photo here and there, admiring them. He picked up one in particular, though, that sent him into a laughing fit.
The picture was of Luke, his brother Jack and his brother’s girlfriend, Celeste. The three of them were sitting on what looks to be an alpine slide. Luke was in the back, with Jack in the middle, and Celeste in the front. Luke couldn’t have been any older than 10 or 11. He was wearing a blue zip-up hoodie and blue/green swim trunks. His hair was crazy and he was trying to grow fringe. The look on Luke’s face, was what made Michael burst into laughter. Luke looked like he was in the middle of talking, and someone just snapped the picture at the wrong time.
After having a good laugh at that picture, Michael put it back into the box and looked for another. The next one he found was just as, if not more, funny than the last one. It was the 4 of them from their first band practice together. Michael cringed at the way that they were all dressed. Luke in a horrible denim button up shirt sporting the double denim look, and Ashton in the infamous “purple shirt”.
Michael felt a twinge of nostalgia in his chest as his eyes raked over the picture. Three out of four of them had fringe, and Michael’s was so long it was down to his chin. It was 5 years ago, and none of them knew a thing about style, but he couldn’t help but smile looking at the picture and looking back on everything they’ve accomplished since that day.
“Are you crying?”
Michael’s head whipped up to find Luke standing in the door way, looking down at his boyfriend sitting at the foot of their bed. And yes, he was crying but he couldn’t help it, okay? It was a very emotional thing to come across.
The taller boy sat down next to Michael on the floor and rested his head on his shoulder. “Why are you looking through this?” Luke asked, rummaging through the box. “I forgot this was under there.” There weren’t any recent pictures in the box. The most recent ones were from maybe a year and a few months ago, so Luke had forgotten about it completely as it sit there under his bed collecting dust.
“I was cleaning, as you can see,” Michael pointed to the piles of laundry he had made in the far corner. “And I found this under the bed. I’d never seen it before, so I opened it.” As he explained to Luke, he kept going through the box, and pulled out another embarrassing picture.
“Oh my fucking god!” Michael shrieked. He threw his head back in hysterics, eye’s watering as he laughed uncontrollably at the picture he’d just found.
“What’s so funny?” Luke questioned. “What’s it a picture of?” He tugged on Michael’s arms, trying to get him to lower it so he could see what had Michael dying of laughter.
“You’re not gonna like this one.” Michael wiped away the couple of tears from his cheeks as he handed the photo over to Luke, still laughing though.
“Oh god,” Luke physically cringed. His eyes squeezed shut and he made a face. Michael was once again, forced into a fit of laughter.
“Why did I keep this one? It’s so embarrassing.”
The picture was of the two of them and they couldn’t have been more than 15 or so in it. The boys were standing in what looks like a store; Michael on the left, and Luke on the right.
“What the hell are you wearing?” Luke burst out laughing. That cute laugh that he does where it’s like a high pitched, breathy giggle before it turns into an actual laugh. Luke’s laugh is Michael’s favorite sound, music to his ears. He could never get enough of it. He wanted to listen to Luke laugh forever.
“Me? You’re really gonna talk about how I look?” Michael snatched the photo from his boyfriends hand and brought it closer to his face, examining it further. “I’d love to talk about how you look, Luke.” Luke covered his face in his hands, growing embarrassed because he just wanted the picture to be put away.
“What is this face you’re making, Luke? It’s actually really creepy.” Michael chuckled. Luke groaned in embarrassment. He turned and hid his now red face in the crook of Michael’s neck. “Please stop looking at it.” He begged. Michael pitied his boyfriend and put the picture back into the box.
“Okay, okay I put it away.” Michael reassured him. Luke lifted his head to see that the picture was gone.
“Thank you,”
“That was funny as hell though. I gotta show that to Cal and Ash tomorrow.”
“Michael!” Luke groaned.
“I’m sorry, but I have to.” Michael placed a soft kiss to boyfriends pouting lips and went back to looking through the box.
“Ha! Oh my god, I remember this day.” Michael pulled another picture out of the box and showed it to Luke. “Do you remember taking this?”
Luke took the picture, a smile growing on his lips and a laugh falling out short after. “Yeah, I do. I think that might have been one of the first times the three of us got together in the music room and played together.”
The picture was old, it was of Calum, Luke and Michael. The three of them were still in school at the time; they even had their uniforms on in the picture. They were in a classroom, and all of them were pulling stupid faces.
“Look how much hair Calum had! What is he doing with his face?!” Luke pointed out.
“Again,” Michael started as he took the picture from Luke’s hand. “You’re really not one to talk, Luke.”
Luke groaned in annoyance because he knew Michael was going to say something about the way he looked.
“Why are you always making those creepy ass faces?” Michael laughed again. “I’m definitely showing this one to Cal. Where’s my phone?” Michael got to his knees and retrieved his cell phone from the bedside table. He opened up the camera app, and focused the picture on only Luke’s face. It was zoomed in so far that all you could see was nothing but Luke’s creepy expression.
Luke laughed out loud as he watched Michael send the picture to their friend.
“You look equally as stupid,” Luke snatched the picture from Michael’s hands and copied Michael’s actions. He pulled his phone and out took a zoomed in close up shot of Michael’s face and sent it to Calum.
“I hate you,” Michael joked.
Luke laughed in response and put the picture back, looking through to find another funny one.
The box was filled with numerous pictures. From their first band practice, to maybe even just a quick selfie that they took last year or something.
“Wait, okay,” Luke took the box from his boyfriends lap and began digging through the pictures.
“What are you looking for?”
“There’s a picture of Ash in here that I remember taking back in like 2012 or something.”
Luke concentrated on rummaging through the box, determined to find the picture he was looking for. He bit his bottom lip in concentration as he dug through the photos. It took a minute, but he finally found it.
“I knew it was in here!” Luke held the picture up in the air in glory as he cheered. He lowered his hand and laughed loudly as he looked over the picture.
“Lemme see!” Michael took the picture from Luke’s hands and both boys collapsed into a fit of laughter as they stared at the picture of Ashton.
The picture was old, maybe from like 2012. He still had his fringe, but he was wearing a ridiculous hat. He was pulling one of those creepy expressions that Luke does as he pointed into the camera.
“Holy hell, I have to send this to him.” Michael spoke through his laughter as he picked up his phone and sent the picture to the oldest boy. “I captioned it ‘oh hey, didn’t see ya there’ and put a wink.”
Both boys started cracking up again at their friend’s expense.
They sat there for a good two hours, looking through almost every picture in the box. Some pictures made them die of laughter, some even made them a little upset. Luke cried at a picture of Michael he has saved. It was from before they were friends. Back when they “hated” each other. Michael was posing with a couple of friends and in the background you could see Luke. It only made Luke cry because it made him think of how far they’ve come as not only a couple, but as best friends and all four of them as a band. From playing to 12 people to play to 20,000 people almost every night. It was a dream come true. And as Luke looked over at his boyfriend, watching his beautiful face light up with amusement, he wouldn’t ask to have it any other way.