epilogue
Luke gave birth to twins eight and a half months later. Yeah, Matty and Luke would never tell a soul that Nina and Nicole were conceived on a disgusting leather couch backstage in Kansas City, Missouri. That was their little secret.
Their aesthetically pleasing home on ten acres north of New York City was finished just in time for the newborn babies. Tall, white walls held tall, clear windows looking onto their forest of a property.
They went from one thousand square feet to eleven thousand square feet. It was a lot of space, but their family was forever growing.
Along with Nina and Nicole came two stray cats, Mick Jagger and Led Zeppelin. Matty named the cats after their first cat was stuck with the name Stacy. Stacy! Matt thought it was kind of cute at first, but it got tiring when Luke would sing Stacy's Mom to the cat every single morning. Every. Single. Morning.
Matty walked into their spacious master bedroom with the one-year-old twins on each hip. Nolan was trailing behind him, Stacy in the toddler's hands.
Nolan became more and more like Luke every single day.
"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty," Matt whispered as he crawled into their queen-sized bed. Mick and Led were surrounding Luke, one at his feet and the other at his hip.
Luke opened up his eyes, an automatic smile on his lips. "You're all here," he said, his morning-voice low.
Matty tried to get comfortable as Nina pulled at his curls. "Can you put my hair in a bun for me?"
"No," Luke said, pulling Nolan up to his side. His eldest cuddled into Luke's chest, placing Stacy on top of him.
Matt wiggled himself up, trying not to drop either baby. He placed both of them at his hips as he reached up to tie his hair out of the way.
Nina and Nicole were too young to tell which father they looked more like. They were both pale, both had blue eyes. All three of the Healy children carried over Luke's blue eye gene.
Luke closed his eyes again, falling asleep to the sound of Matty and Nolan's casual conversation. Luke was so happy. So, so happy.
Michael homeschooled June when fall came around. In spring, Joey decided he wasn't too happy in public school, either.
Mike ended up spending his entire day and night with the youngest two. He ended up becoming the second father that they never really had. There were times where they'd all forget that Michael hasn't always been there.
Michael is part of the Hood family and he'll be part of the Hood family for the rest of his life and beyond. It doesn't really matter that Juli, Joey, nor June technically have his genetics. There are things from Mike that rub off on them: Like his loud laugh, or his incapability to do laundry, or the way he makes the most stupid faces when Calum is going off on another angry rant.
June never grew out of her anxiety, she never grew out of her OCD. She, and all the Hoods, learned to live with it, though. They will always love and appreciate June for the way she is.
Joey is forever grateful for everything Michael has done. He's not sure that he'd be the man he is if it weren't for Michael. Mike has been the best thing to ever happen to Joey, there is nothing in the world that could ever replace the slot in his heart he holds for Michael, for his second father.
Juli got that Matty follow on Twitter and continues to go to every concert of theirs within one hundred miles. She's finding who she wants to be, what she wants to be, and how she wants to be it. It'll take time, but she'll get there one day.
Calum and Michael have three beautiful children, and they know it.
Calum's parents never came back into the picture. Cal knew his value, he knows he deserves the best and they don't deserve him.
They sit in their living room on a Friday night, Juli out with a few friends. June is on Michael's lap, her head falling to his shoulder as she begins to fall asleep.
Mike wraps his arms around her as he leans his head back on their cushioned couch. He closes his eyes, falling into a slumber.
Calum stays up waiting for Juli's arrival. He has his head rested upon his son's head, both of them mindlessly watching the Netflix show in-front of them.
"Hey Dad," Joey starts, pushing his father off of his shoulder.
"Hm?"
Joey runs a hand through his curly hair, biting down on his tongue. "Do you think I could call Michael 'Dad', too? I know June does, and I kind of want that too," he said, his voice deep and low as he spoke barely above a whisper.
"I think he'd love that, J," Cal said, a smile upon his lips, "You're his son, he'd probably start crying."
"But in a good way?"
He nodded, "In a good way."
Nolan talked more and more every day, pushing Matty's fears of the younger boy having some problem further and further away. Nina and Nicole grew up identical, looking more like Matt than Luke.
Matty stayed clean. He'd always be recovering, but he put his family in-front of everything else. He was pleased that none of his children grew up with his addictive personality.
Sure, he knew Nolan became a bit of a stoner, but it was never out of control.
The Healy and Hood family became closer as the kids all grew up. They went on vacations together, the kids visited each other during the summers. Michael and Luke never lost touch, they became closer than before.
Things happen for a reason, and Michael and Luke weren't supposed to happen. Maybe this isn't a sad ending after all, maybe it's finally a happy ending.
I started publishing We Don't Care on September 19th, 2015. It feels just weird to not write this alternative universe anymore.
I enjoyed this story, and I'm sorry if it wasn't really what you wanted. These are my alternative universes, I am the only writer of them. I created these characters, I created their lives. So, yeah, I get a little defensive when readers get a little rough on me about what I did.
Anyways, I cannot possibly thank you enough for reading. I would be nothing without you all, you know that. You guys truly mean the world to me, you guys are the only reason I'm still writing.
I wish I talked more about June, Joey, and Juli. My mom herself has been diagnosed with OCD for quite some time and I could have done so much more with June's character. *shrug emoji*
I have a few stories coming out soon!! Keep looking up on my profile for them, I might reopen this story to announce them, too.
There's going to be Breaking Ashton (releasing mid-March 2016) that is pretty much "Breaking Bad" meets homosexuals. It's gonna be lit, fam. It's Mashton but also a bit of Muke.
I've got Affection (releasing late March 2016), which is my first story I've written in first person, it's gonna be a lot like "Almost Famous". It's Muke.
There's also You Love Me (releasing early April 2016), it's like "The Mindy Project" but also not. Idk how to explain it, you'll have to wait or see. It's Muke.
Then last is Fuck That, Get Money (releasing early May 2016). It's like "Romeo and Juliet" meeting "Robbers" by The 1975. It's gonna be so, so cool. It's gonna be a little bit of Muke and a lot of Mashton.
SO, YEAH. SEE YOU ALL SOON?
