SoulMates // 5sos

l.h. part one

He exited the bathroom and followed the yelling into the kitchen. He almost cried out in thanks when he saw that Maia was standing at the stove, moving something around in a frying pan, while Ashton stood behind her with his arms wrapped around her waist. Just to clear that up, he wasn't happy because they were together (and adorable, not that he'd ever tell them that), rather he was thankful because none of the boys should ever be allowed to cook and Luke kind of didn't want to die on his birthday. Michael and Calum were sitting on opposite sides of the table, screaming at each other about video games or some other topic that Luke couldn't bring himself to care about.

After grabbing a glass from the cupboard and allowing Maia to pull him in for a short hug he poured himself some orange juice and turned to face his friends.

Luke had gotten lucky really, he had four of the best friends anyone could ask for and he wouldn't trade them for anything (even though they were annoying as hell at least half of the time). He still wasn't sure how he'd managed to convince his mum to let him move in with them eight months ago, and he wasn't 100% sure if it had been the best idea but it sure was a lot of fun.

Luke and Calum had known each other for years, so long in fact that Luke had vague recollections of them chasing girls and ruling the sand box since at least the age of five. A lot of people change as they get older, and the two of them were no exception but somehow that still managed to stay the best of friends. It had just been the two of them for most of high school, even though Calum had all his soccer friends and Luke tried to stay away from that crowd.

Then towards the end of year twelve Luke had met Michael. They easily became friends, bonding over things like music and the fact that they were going to the same uni (not the same one as Calum, but one that was still pretty close anyway). The three of them had hung out a bit and it took a little of time and work but eventually the dynamic seemed to settle and work itself out.

How they met Ashton was interesting, well not really but it was kind of funny. In the first couple of weeks of uni Calum had been invited to some parties, one of which was being held by Ashton at his place. Calum dragged Luke along and while he was there Luke had run into Michael. Everyone was a little confused at first but they eventually figured out that Calum went to uni with Ashton while Michael shared the place with him and went to the same uni as Luke.

Luke still couldn't remember exactly how it happened but eventually him and Calum were spending more time at Michael and Ashton's then they were at their own houses, and although nothing was ever verbalised there was this silent expectation that the two of them would move in. And that's exactly what happened. It wasn't always ideal, having four teenage boys all living together was bound to be chaotic, but they made it work.

Now with the inclusion of the other boy's soul mates, there could be anywhere up to seven people there at any given time. They had all learnt very quickly that, while it wasn't always easy, some morsel of privacy was absolutely essential (Luke didn't even want to think about how many times he'd walked in on Calum and Isis already and that had only been going on for a few weeks).

That thought caused his eyes to drop down to the tattoo on his arm once again. After raking his eyes over the design for a few moments his pulled them away and looked over to Ashton and Maia.

The two of them had had a fairly rocky start (the situation had caused a bit of tension in the house, with Calum always ragging on Ashton about it) but they'd sorted it out and now things seemed to be going well for them. Out of all the girls Maia spent the most time at the house and no one was about to complain because she was a damn good cook. Before he'd met her, Ashton had seemed a little bit off, for the lack of a better word, and Luke was happy to see that he was acting more like himself these days (he had no doubt that Maia had a lot to do with that).

Calum and Isis was a completely different story. She had legitimately hated him (and Luke had a feeling that somewhere deep down she still harboured some of those feelings) which was hilarious because Luke knew that Calum had had a crush on her since they were in high school. Luke could still remember with perfect clarity the morning after the party when he'd come down the stairs to see the two of them (Isis still dressed in nothing but Calum's t-shirt) sat together on the couch watching cartoons, he'd been sure that he was imagining the whole thing. The two of them still fought a lot, generally about the most insignificant things, but they always made up and they seemed to be working for the most part.

If Luke could choose though, he'd want something like Michael and Selene. From the word go the two of them had connected; they were everything soul mates were supposed to be. Luke had always thought that Michael was the coolest guys he'd ever met, he just had this air of confidence as if nothing could faze him, but the day he met Selene he'd come home with the goofiest grin on his face. Come to think of it, Luke didn't think that smile had left his face since the two of them met. They were literally perfect for each other and Luke hoped that he'd end up with someone like that; someone who made him happy just by being around and someone who knew him as well as he knew himself.

"So are you excited birthday boy?" Calum's voice pulled him from his thoughts and back into the kitchen where four sets of eyes were waiting for him to respond.

"Oh, yeah." He nodded, pretending that he knew what was going on. "Totally excited."

Calum rolled his eyes at the younger boy knowing, just like everyone else in the room did, that he had no clue what they were talking about.

"Vegas." Ashton filled him in. "Are you excited for Vegas?"

"Oh." Luke said, all of it now coming back to him. "Right. Well my answer still stands. Totally excited."

"Hey, maybe your soul mate will be a stripper." Michael piped up. "Maybe she'll be giving you a lap dance or something and then bam, she' got the matching tattoo."

Ashton let out a chuckle, which in turn made Maia laugh and before they knew it the whole kitchen was filled with laughter. When they calmed down (Calum had actually started crying because he'd been laughing so hard) Maia placed a plate of food out for each of them and they began to dig in.

"Eat up boys, we'll head out when everyone's finished." Ashton told them all.

Luke took another look around the table and a let a smile grace his features, he had all his friends with him (minus Selene and Isis) and he could already feel that this birthday was going to be one to remember.

-

i'm sorry that this is so boring but i just needed to set up for the next two chapters which are going to be filled to the brim with adventure (that sounded lame). also, i wanted to include some back story for the boys because i realised i hadn't done that yet and also it gave you a slight glimpse at how the couples are doing a little bit down the track.

so yeah, please don't hate me i promise it gets better.

oh, i almost forgot, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR GETTING THIS TO OVER 12K READS!!!!! i honestly can't thank all of you enough for giving this story a shot and sticking with it all this time. so keep reading, keep voting, keep commenting and thank you so much to each and every single one of you!

(p.s. i seemed to get a pretty good reaction when i asked about it so after luke's story i'm going to do a character ask. i'll give you more information when the time comes.)