The Hiss of the Viper {5SOS;MUKE&CASHTON}

Three

The blond reached around for his robe as he stood from his bed, missing the silk material from hanging on the bedpost right beside him. He gave up his search as fast as he had started it, blinking the sleepy haze from his eyes slowly as he stumbled around to find his bearings in the dark and empty bedroom he was in.

He hit the door with his outstretched hand first, feeling around the wood to grab the handle and pull it open, heart racing still racing from being shot out of his sleep violently. He aimlessly made his way downstairs, still disoriented clearly as he fumbled around with his head spinning lightly, making his way to the cellar. He ignored the alarm blaring when he opened the gate to the small room, getting barely a little more focus when he was startled by the noise before pushing past to grab the bottle still sat on the table barren from a capsule or label and barely sealed by the cork pushed into it.

He pulled the cork out, dropping it to the floor before making his way back out of the room without shutting the gate or turning the alarm off with his pin, more occupied with getting back upstairs where more light stretched out from the moon. He made it to the kitchen with only a small trail of blood from the bottle he held carelessly and let spill without realizing, opening the fridge and flinching at the lights flooding his vision as he shielded his eyes with not thinking to just close the door.

"Luke..."

He flinched at the sound of his own name, turning around quickly with a heart rampantly beating at his chest to where it felt like it'd break free from his body if he didn't calm down. The splash of blood over his legs went unnoticed as his eyes widened, blinking and looking around in a panic as his breathing went uneven. He realized his mess once he realized he was still alone, mumbling softly to himself as he got down to grab the shattered glass and bloodied his hands with his eyes fluttering as he tried to stay conscious and in control of his body with the faint sound of the alarm going off still.
...

Luke panted softly and wiped roughly at his mouth as he looked at his trembling hands, refocusing on Michael. The rich coppery scent of thick blood wafting around him as he looked over at the man from over his shoulder once he heard him.

His leaned back the second Michael was up behind him, seeing the spill of blood from the wine bottle he had recorked barely four hours before as Michael grabbed his hand to see the cut across his palm. He easily slipped his arms around Luke, picking him up from the mess on the floor of broken glass and blood and held him against his chest. He carried him up the steps to the second floor of the home, empty and dark outside of the light still pouring out of the fridge and where the moon could peak through sheer red curtains over the many windows all around.

He turned the lights on in the bathroom, Luke wincing softly as he tried to refocus again with the sudden spillage of light after having adjust to straining his eyes lightly in the dark, trying to cover his face as Michael held his hand after going under the sink to grab the first aid kit to use. He checked his cut, nodding as Luke whined about the light and his hand with an evident daze of still being slightly out of it.

"I know, my love, I have to clean your hand and I need the light to see. Do you want to tell me what's going on? How'd this happen?"

Luke only whined again, Michael not pushing him into speaking as he carefully cleaned his cut across his palm, trying to comfort him to get through it as the blond tried to keep himself from pulling away from him. He coached him through it, knowing he wasn't exactly aware at the moment as he tended to his shallow cut, glad it wasn't the worst of it or as deep as it could be.

He wrapped the cut with a bandage, pulling it tight to cut the blood flow from spilling out and making him sharply hiss as he tried to pull away. He kept him in place as he tied and cut the excess off and tossing them into trash. He left the rest on the counter, planning to go back to it just like he would downstairs once Luke was able to be left alone for a moment. He grabbed a rag, wetting it before moving to wipe Luke's face as the blond lazily rolled his head around with not wanting to support himself anymore.

He wiped his leg down once his face was clean, leaving the rag into the sink to handle later. He carried him to the bed, Luke only grabbing his shirt tighter in his fist as he shook his head when he tried to sit him down. He kept him in his arms to keep him from getting overwhelmed again, not having any plans to leave him like the blond clearly thought as he moved to the balcony instead. He sat on the small couch on the edge, keeping Luke up close to him as he rubbed his back, sitting in the silence outside of the soft humming of life outside of them and the wind blowing softly around them.

He let Luke curl up into him, laying his head on top of his where his face was buried into his neck, feeling his hand wrapped tightly around the locket that hung from his neck. He grabbed his hand gently to stop him from digging into the cut across his hand and hurting himself, glad that Luke had at least alerted him this time though it was obvious he didn't seem to realize that he had himself on accident. It wasn't the first time they had been found in this situation, though others had been worse to where Michael usually came over during the night just in case, even if Luke didn't call or alert him in any way. He had planned for tonight, knowing Luke had been working harder than normal and blaming himself for it too.

He had spent the last month on going out every single night, only few returns to where Luke hadn't done anything for himself either and he had pushed a party onto him without thinking. He looked down when he felt Luke shift around shortly, holding him to keep him from falling to the floor when he nearly dropped from trying to get up. He let the blond take his chain after unclipping it for him, watching him open it to see the two photos hidden inside.

Each half of the heart held one of them, Luke rubbing his thumb over the photo of a young Michael, his black hair having been green and straightened to high hell of burning his hair to a near crisp from years of flat ironing it into a fringe. He didn't much care for the photo that Luke had picked out of his album, only grew attached to the sight of a young face he hadn't grown into just yet even while he was pushing twenty because of Luke's attachment.

"I, uh, I thought I saw....him. I mean, I know it was my mind and he isn't around but I just got spooked, I guess and I just felt detached for a little moment. I'm sorry."

He held Luke's chin to keep the blond from feeling like he had to look away, softly speaking back to him in the same whisper of a tone Luke had established first to keep from making him pull away, as if he was a doe ready to tuck tail and run at the first sound he heard.

"Hey, it's okay. I understand. I'm just happy I was able to be here for you. Maybe...we could take a break? Just stay out of the public eye for a little bit, just a couple of weeks. Take time for yourself."

Luke looked away shortly but ultimately didn't put up a fight as he shrugged and half heartedly nodded in agreement. He didn't push more, deciding to wait till the next morning when he changed the subject to getting Luke to bed again as the blond yawned and wiped the harsh mist of tears that welled up from the action. He took him to the bedroom again, helping him under the covers and leaving his chain with him as he sat at the edge beside Luke.

"I'll stay here till you go to sleep and then I'll clean up for you. Just get some rest."

Luke only turned over, staring out the glass door to his balcony that they had just come in from, balling his fist around the cover and chain as he felt Michael's hand rubbing against his back.

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AN: hi, hi! New chapter, that I hope you enjoyed!!

Who do y'all think Luke was affected by so much? I'm sure y'all could guess, there's only a few other people in this story lol but thank you for reading!!

Thank you for checking it out and I hope to see you next chapter and that's you're taking care of yourself!! Love y'all so much for hanging out and on while I take a million years to update, lol.

Byeeeee! <3 ....