Lander Oneshots - TMF

Where Is Everyone?

"Luke?" called Zander, his voice echoing in the hall. He was at Luke's house, where everyone had seemed to disappear. Nobody answered him. "Luke?!" he called again, panic starting to creep into his voice. What if a spider came in and he couldn't do anything about it?! What if they'd been kidnapped or something?! What if-

"Zander!!" cried a voice, and whoever it was hugged him from behind. Zander knew the voice, and recognized the warmth of his boyfriend. 

"Luke," he sighed in relief, flipping around and hugging him, which was rare, even for Luke. "Where did everyone go?! You scared me, I thought you disappeared!!"

"We did-" Luke said grudgingly, backing up slightly so they weren't touching anymore. Zander felt cold now that his peanut butter's presence was gone. The periwinkle eyed boy looked at him in confusion. He didn't want to separate from him. But he could see the difference in his eyes, his amber eyes, usually radiating with warmth, were distant and... hurt. "My parents... needed to talk to me about something." He rubbed the back of his neck, as he did when he wasn't telling Zander something important.

"Go on," Zander said, raising his chin and folding his arms. He frowned at his brunette boyfriend. "You're leaving something out."

"I-" Luke gulped, looking out of the corner of his eye at the door he probably came out of. "Uhm. L-lets go somewhere... else." he walked past Zander, brushing his hand against his, a motion for Zander to follow him. He did, following close behind. He wore a worried expression. They went out the side door, like they were being sneaky. They speed-walked down a path that led to the park they'd confessed at, Zander pestering Luke to tell him, Luke refusing until they got there. Soon they were sitting on one of the benches in a secluded area there, in the shade of a tree. 

"Okay." Zander said, turning Luke towards him so he could look into his eyes. "What's wrong?"

Luke took a deep breath. "Are you sure you want to know?"

Zander nodded, taking Luke's hand and squeezing it gently. Luke turned to him.

"My parents, uhm. They didn't know about, erm... us... until now," the brunette haired boy said, gazing longingly into his boyfriend's eyes. Zander frowned a little more, seeing they were still painstakingly distant. "My mom is fine with it- as long as you make me happy, she says. But my dad, he doesn't approve. Of me being pan. He thinks I'm gay, but he considers it the same."

"There's something else." Zander kept his full attention on Luke's face, insecurity and pain visible, even though it was clear Luke was attempting to hide it. He took his other hand, getting an inch or two closer.

Luke took another deep breath, this time shaky. His eyes were full, like he was trying not to burst into tears. "He wants us to break up."

"What?" Zander choked, hiccuping even with the one word he said. "But..." His periwinkle eyes flashed with anger. "If I can get you to not be in trouble, I know that we still love each other. It can be a secret. But does he not care about your happiness?" Trembling in fury, he stood up. "We promised we wouldn't fight anymore but you know after abusing you he's gone TOO FAR. This doesn't make sense. You probably won't let me fight him, though; you're too nice for that. If your mom is okay with it... but your parents are divorced..." Luke caught his hand, sending him stumbling backwards.

"You're pacing," Luke said, standing up and wrapping his arms around Zander. "You only pace when you're thinking too hard. I don't want you overworking yourself like you do for your ELA projects, staying up all night to design and plan for weeks."

"Luke," Zander said, putting his hands on Luke's shoulders and staring into his eyes intensely. "How would your mum feel about staying at our house? Your dad will be back in Europe by next week, right? So you can be there until he goes-"

Luke, again, looked like he was about to tear up. He hugged Zander tighter, leaning in to kiss him. It was short but passionate, and Luke said reluctantly, "But will Mrs. Wickham be okay with it?"

The periwinkle eyed boy smiled at him, another rare sight. "Of course. We all love having you over. But you can't use the guest bedroom, Bethany is having a friend over for a month."

"I can sleep on the couch-" Luke began.

"Nuh-uh!" Zander backed up, wagging his finger, his other hand on his hip. "There's a couch in my room, I can sleep on that. You get the bed. You're the guest."

Luke sighed, both of the boys coming together to lean into the other's embrace. "We'll figure it out later, honey bun." They both turned slightly pink, and walked to the Wickham's house, hand in hand. 

———————

IM SO SORRY FOR THE RECENT DELAY IN POSTING!! If you didn't know, I'm usually on Scratch as cs4692801, where I'm constantly making TMF and Southwoods (a series I made) content. I tend to forget about this account, ending up checking on it like 3 months later. SO SORRY if i respond to comments literal years late, or anything, probably not, but you never know. Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter :)

Word count including the after message: 892 words