Layton opened the door to his house, feeling the empty silence almost consume him. He flicked the lights on, putting his bag on the ground and hanging his coat on a rack. The silence remained. It was like this every day he came home after a long day of talking to students and fending away a few completely smitten females. Everything felt empty. He often filled the silence with putting a shiny vinyl record down onto a gramophone and allowing the music to flood through the room. He selected a record from a small collection and fitted it down onto the gramophone, putting the needle to it and allowing the music to play. The silence was gone, but everything still felt empty.
He sat down, taking a book from the couch aside him. It had been 6 months but everything continued to feel empty, no matter what he filled the silence or space with. Layton sighed, flipping a page. Nothing could replace Luke's presence.
Luke would have brightened up his mood, and although he didn't show much affection... It was nice for him to be there. Layton wouldn't have admitted it, but he may have developed some romantic feelings towards the child. The word "child" hung in his mind and pained him with stabs of guilt, but he had the mental capabilities to keep his feelings under control.
Outside, a small child was trudging through filth. The descending choking darkness of the night stroked his throat and fed off his mental exhaustion and hunger. Yet, he felt like he was in paradise. Or at least on the outskirts. His eyes were wide, legs heavy with a bandage wrapped around one, and a weak pain in each step. He was on the verge from collapsing of hunger, but each pained and exhausted step brought him just that little bit closer to the core of paradise.
He approached a small apartment complex and entered the light. Hunger threatened to consume his insides, yet he pushed on regardless.
Layton heard a knock at his door. Layton gave a little "hm?" in mild surprise. No one usually had a reason to come to his place, especially at this time of night. Layton took a deep breath at the thought it could be one of his many university students who flirted and harassed him on a regular basis like there was no one else in the world, but they wouldn't go this far.
He got up and went to the door anyway, turning the door knob and opening the door for whoever was outside. It would be ungentlemanly to not open the door, after all...
The figure standing outside was staring up into his eyes with huge, pleading, exhausted and scarily familiar eyes. He had a bandage wrapped around a leg, his blue cap was slightly off angle, and his shirt was stained and looked pretty bad. One of his suspenders had slipped down slightly. He was carrying a backpack.
"Luke?!"
"P-Professah..." Luke's voice was a mere whimper. His eyes flickered slightly, before shutting and he appeared to just collapse uselessly on the ground. Layton felt a searing panic grip him. He pulled Luke into his arms, not questioning how he got there. He had to check he was okay.
Luke was still breathing, thankfully, and a quick check of his pulse proved he was fine. Layton lay Luke's body on the couch and tried to think what could have been wrong. He got a can of soup, heated it up quickly in the microwave and came back to the couch with the food in a bowl.
He got a spoon and quickly put a few spoonfuls of the soup in Luke's mouth, considering hunger may have been the issue. He hoped it was.
Layton felt a breeze blow through the open doorway. He turned his head towards the door, and noticed the door wide open, along with an envelope laying on the ground. Layton got to his feet, walking over to close the door and pick up the envelope. On one side, "To: Hershel Layton" was written on it in Luke's clumsy handwriting. He leaned on the door to close it, and gently tore open the envelope.
He pulled out a folded slip of paper. It looked like one of Luke's letters... He unfolded the paper and saw "I LOVE YOU" written in pen, in huge letters in messy ink strokes. There was a small pink heart in the side as well, coloured in nicely. Layton took a few seconds to take it all in, feeling dizzy for a moment and sitting back down on the couch.
Luke opened his weary eyes a few seconds later, glancing around and lifting a hand to his head. He didn't speak but lifted a hand to his head. He felt dizzy and slumped down slightly, but realised food was in his mouth and quickly swallowed. His eyes focused on Layton reading the letter over and over, before noticing he had tears in his eyes.
"P-Professah..." Luke noticed Layton, sitting up a bit and enjoying the overall gentle familiar smell of Layton's house - his house. He felt at home for the first time in months... Layton suddenly wrapped his arms around Luke and held him closely in a tight loving hug.
"I don't care how you got here for now. I'm just glad you're here..." Layton said in a whisper.
"D-Do you l-l-love me? R-Romantically?!" Luke's eyes turned to the letter that the professor had read. His heart accelerated.
"I always have."
YOU ARE READING
Around The World For A Kiss
Fanfiction(Warning: Entire thing is Layluke.) Luke just hasn't been the same since he moved, having undergone a huge personality shift from a rather obvious catalyst. It's been 6 months and he appears to be degrading and becoming more and more detached from t...
