temporary bliss ➟ muke ✓

epilogue; numbers

"Because I want to see something," Luke declared with a grin, finally getting the box open and digging inside to find what he was looking for. Michael put some of his weight on one knee as he impatiently waited for the blond to finish searching the box, knowing that they had a long day of unpacking ahead of them. Maybe he could convince Luke to take a nap with him before they started to unpack, because he knew how much that boy liked his naps. He rarely declined any nap.

"Ah, here it is, baby," Luke spoke excitedly and a little bit rushed, as he grasped Michael's hand and pulled him down to the hardwood floor so that they were both sitting on the floor. Michael sat on the back of his calves as he curiously watched Luke remove a photo frame from the box, a frame he had never seen before.

"What's that from?" Michael asked, stretching towards Luke in an attempt to grab it from his boyfriend. The blond leaned back at just the right time to avoid Michael's outstretched hand, and grinned as he kept the picture hidden from Michael.

"I got this done when this place was officially ours," Luke explained, his words much slower and careful than before. Finally he turned the frame around so Michael could see the picture, which was a picture of the two of them at a diner when they went on a double date with Calum and Ashton. Luke had a mouthful of pancake in his mouth as Michael was sipping from his sweet tea, eyeing Luke with a genuine smile on his lips.

"Man, that's not the best picture of us. Neither of us are even paying the camera any attention," Michael pointed out, snatching the frame from Luke to study the picture up close.

"I love it because of that, baby. Neither of us were looking at the camera because we were too busy looking at each other, all lovey-dovey and shit."

"Why don't we take one now, so we at least have a picture of us actually looking at the camera?" Michael suggested, scooting closer to his boyfriend and pulling out his phone. Almost instantly, Luke's fingers went to mess around with his hair to make it picture-perfect, so Michael waited patiently until he was ready.

Then, Michael lifted up his arm and there they were on the screen of his iPhone. Luke moved closer to Michael to the point where their cheeks were touching, and then they both smiled wide for the camera. After the picture was taken, Luke moved his head and kissed Michael's cheek, the sound of the camera going off echoing through the empty apartment.

"I love you," Michael informed as he put down his phone and turned his head to attach his lips against Luke's. They continued to kiss for several moments until Luke slowly pulled away and cupped both sides of Michael's face.

"Are you clean today so far?" Luke questioned, already knowing the answer since he had been with Michael the entire day. When the younger boy nodded earnestly, Luke grinned, "Good. Let's go cuddle in our new bed so I can make sure you're clean the rest of the day, because I really wanna stay with you throughout the night and kiss you all over your cute face."

Michael had been clean for thirty-four days so far. It was a start, as Luke would always say, and a start to a most likely rocky journey to permanently becoming clean, but Luke would be there for him throughout it all.

Luke's words made Michael grin before he leaned in to press kiss after kiss to Luke's smooth skin, from down to the sharpest point in his jawline up to his forehead. He finished off his kisses with one final kiss to the tip of his nose, and then Luke briefly leaned in to kiss his boyfriend's lips before abruptly standing up from the floor.

"Come on, love of my life," Luke instructed with a quirk of his eyebrow as he wiggled his fingers for Michael to take his hand. Of course, Michael did just that and followed Luke into their shared bedroom, where the blond placed the photo frame on the bedside dresser.