Luke was hurriedly running around the apartment with five different things in his arms and hundreds of different things in his mind.
"Okay, okay, okay" Luke mumbled to himself, repeating his words in hope to calm himself down.
He was late and he tried to get his mind in check so he could get all the things he needed before walking out of his home.
He had a really hard time remembering important stuff when he was late and stressing, which made his life a little bit harder.
"Dad?" the little voice startled Luke, making him drop a few things he was holding.
He looked at the small brunette standing in the hallway with tussled hair and droopy eyes.
Luke let out a happy sigh because he knew there was something very important he had forgotten; his son.
"Good morning sleepy head" Luke sing sang before picking up the things he had dropped.
"Go eat breakfast because we're leaving soon" Luke said, trying to act as calm as possible in front of his small copy.
"Are we late?" Leon asked and Luke shook his head immediately.
"Nope, I just think it's fun to run around like this in the morning. You should try it bud, run into the kitchen and eat breakfast" he said, smiling before going back to stressing again.
"You're late and I'm gonna tell grandma" Leon said and walked into the kitchen. Luke threw all the stuff he held in his arms away before greying after his son.
"No, don't tell her! We're not late, see, I'm so calm" Luke tried to sound believable, leaning against the kitchen counter to appear 'calm'.
"Grandma said that if you are late again I should tell her" the small boy said, looking up at his father with big blue eyes.
"Well, if you do that grandma is going to yell at me and you don't want daddy to get yelled at, do you?" Luke asked, hoping that he would get his son on his side.
The blonde let out a relieved sigh when his son shook his head no.
"Great, now let's get you some breakfast and I will pick out clothes and stuff before we leave"
Luke picked up his son and placed him on one of the chair around the table. He filled a bowl with milk and the sugary cereals he had bought a few days ago and watched his son eat it happily. He smiled proudly.
"Where's your backpack?" Luke asked as he came out from Leon's room, still stressed out of his mind. This is worse than high school mornings, for sure.
"At grandma's" Leon answered simply before going back to eating his cereal happily.
Luke groaned, there was no way they were stopping by his mother's. He didn't want to get scolded on.
"Eh, you're in pre-school, what would you need a backpack for?" he mumbled before helping Leon off his chair and hurried him into his room.
"Okay, what should we wear today?" Luke mumbled more to himself but Leon answered happily.
"Jeans" the small one cheered and rummaged through his already messy closet until he found the blue worn-out jeans. He started dressing while Luke threw him a dark blue hoodie with some skater brand on.
It was chilly out so he better dress the small one warm.
After they were both dressed, looking like they were about to go skateboarding, they hurried out of the apartment together.
When they were finally sitting on the bus, ready to go to Leon's preschool, Luke could breathe out and calm down his nerves.
"Dad, music" Leon said and tugged at Luke's sleeve while watching out the window.
Luke chuckled and dug up his phone and earphones from his pocket. He put one earbud in his ear and held the other one by Leon's.
The earbuds were way to big for Leon's small ears, so Luke had to hold it up by the small boy's ear the whole time.
Luke didn't mind though, because seeing his son nod his head in the rhythm to Fall Out Boy put a smile on Luke's face.
The bus ride was quickly over, making Leon whine a bit because he hadn't listened to one of his favorite songs yet.
Luke was glad though, because he thought Love in an Elevator wasn't really appropriate for the 4 year old. Luke was just glad the small one hadn't asked to watch the music video yet.
The blonde father looked at the time and saw they had 1 minute until they had to be there. It was okay to come earlier and later, but everyone left their kids at this hour and he didn't want to be the black sheep and come around 2 in the afternoon just because he wanted to sleep.
The parents already judged him silently for his messy behavior and strong confusion. He was 21; what more could they expect from him?
"First one to the school wins" Luke said enthusiastically, hoping that would speed Leon up a bit.
Luke's trick worked and both boys started running towards the preschool. Well, Luke was jogging while Leon was sprinting.
Luke wanted to be some kind if match for his son, so he sped up a bit and ran past him.
He laughed when Leon screamed in frustration and Luke could hear the small boy's feet work even faster than before. But then it stopped.
"Dad! I fell" Luke was still running but stopped in his tracks when hearing his son yell for him. Luke ran back quickly, cursing under his breath, before picking up Leon from the ground.
"Oh god, are you okay, bud?" he asked and crouched down to see if the little one had any injuries. Luke felt bad because it was kind of his fault.
Leon nodded and Luke smiled, sighing relieved and carried him as a way of forgiveness.
"My jeans broke" Leon said and pointed down at his knee where his jeans were now ripped. Luke pouted a bit before leaning down a bit to place a light kiss against the ripped knee.
"Sorry" Luke said and kissed the top of Leon's head while walking towards the school.
"That's okay, because now I look like you!" Leon smiled and patted Luke's head happily.
Luke looked down at his own ripped jeans and smiled up at Leon. "Yeah, now you look like me"
Luke carried Leon on his hip as he walked into the small preschool. He looked at the drawings that were like a wallpaper on the wall. He smiled when seeing the drawing Leon had done of himself, Luke, Michael, and Calum.
In the drawing Luke was holding Leon's hand while Michael was playing guitar and Calum was holding a gun.
The teacher had taken Luke to the side and asked him about how Leon could have any knowledge about this kind of weapon and violence, but Luke had quickly told the teacher that Calum was studying to be a cop and was why he drew his friend like that, in all the nice ways.
Luke was lucky that was true because if not, all the teachers and parents would probably judge the hell out of him.
Luke placed Leon down on the floor and helped him take off his miniature Vans.
"Okay, I'll come get you around half past two" Luke said even though he knew Leon had no knowledge about the clock.
Leon nodded though, like if he understood what his father had said, and hugged him tightly.
Luke kind of never wanted to let go of his son every time they were in this situation. He hated leaving Leon because together they were one and Luke's days were so much better when Leon was by his side.
Luke was always free from work on Tuesdays but always had other annoying grownup things to handle, so he couldn't take the day off with his son, as much as he'd like to.
Leon never had any problem leaving though. When Luke finally had let go of him and kissed his little head, Leon said bye before happily skipping into the preschool and greeted all the teachers and his friends.
Luke admired his son's confidence and social skills. He kind of wished he had those skills as well.
Luke stopped mourning and stood up, getting ready to leave because there was no use in him sitting there among all the toddlers' shoes.
"Luke?"
Luke's head turned in a dangerous speed when he heard his name and that familiar voice. His eyes landed on a smiling curly-haired boy and Luke was surprised, pleasantly surprised.
"Ashton? I didn't know Peach went to this preschool" he asked as Ashton walked over to him.
"She hasn't before but they put together her old preschool and this one and they started today. You weren't on the parental meeting about all of this?" Ashton asked and raised an eyebrow.
"Oh um no, I actually took Leon on a football game that night, thought it wasn't anything important we would miss" Luke said and scratched his jaw as he smiled in embarrassment.
Ashton watched him with raised eyebrows before laughing lightly. "I understand you, I didn't go on it either, I totally forgot"
"Oh well, then I'm not the only one who got scolded for it" Like grinned. He joined Ashton's side as they walked out of the preschool and met the chilly weather outside.
"No absolutely not. The teachers and parents and definitely not on my side" Ashton said and chuckled a bit.
"I know right? And they judge you for being so young and they think you can't handle the responsibilities" Luke sighed and Ashton nodded his head vigorously in agreement.
"I know! God, we young dads need to keep together" Ashton joked but Luke was all in for it. Not only could he finally stand up for those depressing old parents, but also he'd be with Ashton who seemed to be a really cool guy.
"How old are you anyways? If you don't mind me asking" Luke asked and put his hands in his pockets of his hoodie to cover himself from the cold wind.
"I don't mind. I'm 24" Ashton said and smiled at Luke who was watching him intently. "And you're 21" Ashton added.
"How do you know?" Luke asked and raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Because your hoodie say you graduated high school three years ago" Ashton said and pointed at Luke's lame graduation hoodie. Ashton had a smile playing on his lips the whole time and Luke liked it, it was inviting.
"Oh well, yeah. I'm 21" Luke answered and smiled back.
"Do you have work or something to go to?" Ashton asked and Luke shook his head.
"No, not for another few hours, why?"
"Wanna go grab a coffee or something? We probably should get to know each other now when we're starting this pact against the other parents" Ashton joked, smirking small.
Luke nodded his head, maybe a bit too enthusiastically, and smiled back at Ashton. Ashton chuckled and walked Luke over to the closest coffee shop.
**
"That must have been tough? I mean, having Leon when you were still in high school" Ashton said to Luke as they were now sitting in a coffee shop, sipping on their coffees.
Luke nodded, humming a bit.
"Yeah, especially when my girlfriend left and everything" Luke said and held his coffee mug with both his hands to spread the warmth through his body.
"Why did she? Leave, that is" Ashton asked and flipped a bit of hair away from his face. "You don't need to tell me if you down want to"
"No, it's cool" Luke said and licked his lips. "She was my girlfriend and we had been dating only for about a week and we had unprotected sex because I thought she was on the pill, but she obviously wasn't, and she got pregnant" Luke said and looked up at Ashton to see him nodding his head.
"She didn't want a kid and I obviously weren't ready but my parents didn't let her get an abortions and I didn't want an abortion either, so my parents and helped her through all those 9 months. And then when Leon was born and I had gone home with him, I got a call from her parents saying she had left" Luke said and shrugged his shoulders and Ashton furrowed his eyebrows.
"You never got an explanation for it?"
"No," Luke said and shook his head, "I'm pretty sure it was because she wasn't ready and she wasn't in love with me. We wouldn't have a future, she kind of hated me after I told her I was bisexual and, yeah. But I got Leon to myself and I'm very happy about that" Luke smiled. Ashton smiled back and laughed lightly.
"He's a cute kid" Ashton and Luke nodded, smiling big.
"What about you? What about Peach's mother?"
"Um, she passed away right after Peach was born" Ashton said and Luke's face fell.
"Fuck- I mean shit- I mean-I'm sorry" Luke rambled on, making Ashton crack a smile.
"It's okay, we've learned to live with it. Peach and I, that is"
"It must have been hard to lose your girlfriend like that?" Luke spoke softly, not wanting to hit a nerve.
"She wasn't my girlfriend, she was my best friend, kind of harder that way though. The whole thing was a drunken chaos and she somehow ended up pregnant" Ashton said and sipped on his coffee again.
"Like my story then?" Luke asked and chuckled softly.
"No, quite far from it. Everyone was very mad at us and completely confused to it all as we had been friends since forever and 3 years before Peach was 'created' I had come out as gay" Ashton said and chuckled when seeing Luke's confused face.
"How did that work then?" Luke asked and scrunched his face up as he thought.
"A shitload of alcohol and I think there were some pills helping me out a bit" Ashton laughed and Luke cracked a chuckle.
"Well, you got a pretty little girl out of it anyway" Luke said and smiled over the top of his coffee cup.
Ashton nodded and smiled big, letting his dimples pop out. "Yeah, and I don't regret a thing. Her mother would be proud of her"
There was a nice silence between them as they sipped on their coffees and looked out on the streets through the window.
"By the way," Ashton spoke up, making Luke turn to him again, "Did you say you were bi?"
Luke kept quiet and looked at Ashton for a few seconds before slowly nodding his head.
"Okay, nice" Ashton said and turned to look out the window again, now wearing a grin on his face.
Luke looked at the handsome boy across from him and couldn't help but smile bashfully while blushing slightly.
•••
so wattpad deleted 3/4 of this chapter and it took me years to find the rest of the chapter but i finally did and now it's getting reposted.
sorry it took me such a long time but blame wattpad for deleting all my fucking work.
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