sexual tension stuff...oo la la
chapter twenty eight; is that a hickey?
"You do realize you're going to have to talk to me about it eventually, right?" Luke expressed, sitting across from Ava on the carpetted floor, eyes still concentrated on his chess piece as he was trying to figure out where to put it.
It had been a couple days since the Thanksgiving incident and Luke had yet to figure out what was said to her while he was roaming the halls, looking at baby pictures of her and her siblings. Currently, the two of them were sat crisscrossed, their legs sprawled onto the floor as they sat near the couches and played chess on the coffee table in Luke's apartment, some music playing in the background that Luke had connected from his phone to the speaker.
Ava made a face and shook her head, not having anything to say, taking yet another one of his game pieces. "I'd rather not discuss what happened on the holiday that is realistically just celebrating sugar-coated genocide, thank you very much. Oh, and checkmate."
He let out a laugh, "At least your brothers and sisters exchanged contact info with you again. Hanako is—no offense—different than I thought he'd be. Very scary."
Luke shuddered at the memory of meeting her older brother Hanako, who was 6'5'', a quarterback on his college football team, buff, and highly protective over Ava. The instinct to pummel any person who hung out and had intentions with his sister had been a feeling that Hanako had missed, and it was an understatement that he had fun messing with the blonde haired boy. It was a nearly traumatic experience, but he wasn't sure it could compare with the rest of Ava's family. Her aunts and uncles were brutal, and really didn't know when to stop being offensive, especially with the comments they would whisper when Ava would walk away, and he had to force himself to not disrespect anyone on the first night he met them.
"My little brother and sister love you though. I think Ryuu thinks you're her best friend now. Kaito is jealous though. He says that only twins should be best friends," Ava told him distractedly, moving her piece a couple times as she thought about it in her head. Realizing she won, she let out a high-pitched cheer and wiggled in her spot, doing her victory dance. "I won, I won, I won. Take that, loser!"
"It's chess, Ava. Calm down."
Either not hearing him through both her own cheering or through the pop song playing from Luke's phone, or choosing to ignore him for her own personal enjoyment, she stuck her tongue out at him, gloating about how excellent she was at chess. Luke returned the gesture, getting up off the floor to clear the chess pieces, stuffing them into the box before placing everything back on the shelf. He came back to see the shorter girl laid out on the floor, craning her neck to look at him. He got down on the floor and laid the opposite way, so that his head was above hers and he was looking down at her. Weaving his fingers through her soft, dark hair he sighed and played with it, embracing the love song that could be heard echoing in the nearly apartment, even if it was a bad one.
"You're so pretty," Ava said, getting up so she could sit up straight and she toyed with the hem of his t-shirt absentmindedly, "It's not fair."
Luke's lips etched with a small grin, "Sometimes I forget that you're my girlfriend—or are you still scared of labels?"
"Oh please, I am not scared of labels, Mr. Luke Hemmings. I just happen to think that the term best friend sounds better," she explained, turning her nose up like she knew her reason was the right one.
At this, an idea sprung up in Luke's head, and he bit his lip, running his fingers over his knuckles, leaning closer to her. He raised an eyebrow and when his lips were nearly touching her neck, he could hear her breath hitch and he glanced up just for a moment to see her begin to blush vibrantly. Her hands automatically made their way to his torso, pulling him in closer.
"Do best friends do this?" He whispered against her tan skin, his lips brushing against her ear before they focused on her neck, hearing her breathing grow heavier as he peppered light kisses down until he reached her collarbone, where he kissed it a little longer, sucking on the skin gently before backing up and away from her, feeling as though he has proven his point.
Ava had a small, dazed smile on her face that was sweet and almost childlike, her eyes lit up slightly as she ran her fingers over the new and first lovebite Luke ever gave her. For the most the part she was in shock, but it was a good shock. She wrapped her arms around his neck loosely, smirking at him.
"You know, for the first time in my life, I am slightly turned on. Congratulations, you have achieved the impossible."
He chuckled and kissed her on the lips, just savoring the moment and how soft and nice Ava's lips felt on his, and how he knew that he was someone he wanted to kiss for the rest of his life. The moment could've lasted forever; the music changed again, this time it was a song that was even worse than the one before, yet both of them were too consumed in each other to notice.
Ava pulled away, gazing up at Luke like he was a bright star she kept wishing on, and ran a hand through his hair, messing it up more than it already was.
"What are you doing to me, Luke Hemmings?" She questioned and it was genuine, like she wasn't sure why this six foot tall manchild with beautiful blue eyes and a great music taste was affecting her so much.
He blushed and gave her an adorable coy shrug, "Dazzling you with the horrible songs on a random Spotify page I clicked?"
Playfully rolling her eyes, she poked his dimple and sighed, "That is exactly what's happening. Seriously, where are you getting this music?"
He walked to the couch and plopped down, "I dunno. I let Calum use my Spotify account since I have premium and he listens to weird music when he works out. You can change the song if you want, but only because I love you."
He watched as she made her way to his phone, not being able to keep his eyes off her. He stared as she fixed a strand of hair and turned back to glance at him, making him act like he wasn't staring at her and he quickly turned his head so it looked like he was staring at a coffee stain on one of Ashton's weird Seventeen magazines.
But, of course, Ava knew he was staring.
She giggled and propped herself up by the stool in corner, picking up Luke's phone, the cord connecting it to the speaker hanging by her legs as she swung her feet. The girl was more than happy to choose the music, glad that she stopped an awful techno song before it even really played. Biting her lip and scrolling through the options, she saw something that caught her eye. This something caused her to laugh quietly to herself, catching Luke's attention.
"Somethin' funny?" Though the words were a genuine question, they came out nervous and insecure. Was his music taste bad? Or did she find—oh no.
His playlist.
To Luke, music represented someone and who they were as a person, at least usually. And whenever Luke cared very deeply about someone, he made them a playlist, full of songs that reminded him of that said person. Most of the time, since Luke was never that good at explaining his feelings clearly, he would bury a lot of them in the songs he thought suited how he felt towards a person. And now, that person was Ava.
He constantly thought about her and wanted to spend time with her, and when he couldn't, the playlist was the next best thing. Besides, he liked thinking about her when he heard certain songs or heard certain lyrics. However, sometimes these feelings were very strong and could at times be embarrassing since some of them were not exactly appropriate.
Realizing this, Luke scrambled on his feet and rushed to Ava, immediately trying to grab the phone from her hands. Although his clear height advantage, she managed to continuously keep ducking away from his arms and running in the other direction. Happy and flattered, Ava read each song off the playlist, sprinting behind one side of the island as Luke stayed on the other side, chasing after her.
"Babe..." he warned, growing more crimson by the second, trying to hold in his laughter.
"This is so cute," she gushed, but then her eyes widend and pink tinted her cheeks, "Oh wow, that's a naughty song, Luke. Oh, there's more. A lot more."
Groaning in mortification, he climbed over the island and Ava screamed, running away once more. She scanned the rest of the songs by the couch, while simultaneously trying to get away from Luke. Suddenly, getting through the playlist, she heard a battle cry and saw Luke pratically throw himself at her, the both of them falling onto the carpetted floor. He placed himself on her hips, putting each leg on either side of her, and held her down as she broke out into fits of laughter.
"Babygirl," he said, a playful look spreading on his countenance, "Give me my phone."
Ava shook her head, holding the phone to her chest tightly, challenging him. She lifted her head up so that it was closer to his and wore a smug expression.
"Make me, baby."
"Oh really," Luke chuckled, taking her on, "You must really want another hickey."
"All talk, no show, Hemmings. That should be your new nickname—" Ava's words were cut off by Luke leaning down, kissing her neck everywhere, not leaving one spot unchecked. His hands traveled to her waist, pulling her off the ground and he changed their position so that she was know in his lap.
She tried to shake her head, but it only made her feel his lips more and she had to fight the urge to tilt her head back. "You can't break me. Don't forget that I am asexual. No matter how good that feels."
"Will this break you?" He asked, and Ava felt confused, before she figured out what meant. He started wildly blowing raspberries in her neck, making her guffaw loudly and drop the phone, begging him to stop.
"Okay, okay, stop! Please! You, found, my, weakness—no, not there! I'm even more tickilish there," she cried out in between giggles, struggling to catch her breath as her stomach hurt from how much she was laughing.
"Uh, we were interrupting something?" A voice erupted by the door as a door closed and Luke and Ava both tried to get up at the same time, knocking their foreheads against each other, practically receiving a double-ended headbutt.
Calum walked in and took off his beanie and winter coat, cheeks and nose red from the below zero weather outside that he had to walk through with Ashton to buy some of the things they needed (they would've gotten a car, or drove there themselves, but they were poor and too lazy to fill up their own gas, so they decided to face the icy cold winds). He placed some groceries on the countertop and tossed his keys next to them.
Ashton came tossed off his shoes and stuck a container in the air, "Ava, I bought you some chocolate ice cream, it's going in the freezer. I thought you would like some since you seem like the weirdo who would be the one to eat ice cream in winter."
"Thanks, Ash," she smiled, before getting up to give him and Calum a small welcome home hug, leaving Luke on the floor to fix his hair and his shirt.
After hugging Calum, she pulled away, backing up to return to Luke, but she was stopped halfway. Calum leaned into her with a peculiar look on his face, staring at something. He squinted and tilted his head to the side to get a better look, the confusion suddenly replaced. He smirked and pointed to her neck.
"Is that..." he paused for dramatic effect, "...A hickey?"
Someone let out a squeal (it was Ashton, who loved Luke and Ava more than he loved his poster signed by Barack Obama), and Ava instantly found herself covering her neck with her hands, blushing for the umpteenth time tonight.
She felt Luke, who upon hearing the mention of a hickey went up to protect his girlfriend from the uneducated and annoying cavemen he called his friends wrap his arms around her waist, bending down slightly as he hugged her from behind.
"Prince Charming here to save the day!" Calum joked, putting the groceries in the fridge, earning an eyeroll from Luke.
"She can save herself. She's a strong, independent woman," he retorted to his friend, making Ava smile happily.
"I can't believe you let Puke give you a hickey. I could've given you one better than that and in more discreet places," Ashton said, huffing in disappointment, "Luke may have been a huge fuckboy but he was never good at hiding hickeys."
"Shut up, Ash," Luke nearly snarled through gritted teeth, Ava not seeing the angry look he was giving Ashton. However, she could somehow sense it, and she placed her hand on top of his and rubbed circles into it with her thumb. It was her way of telling him to let it go.
"Sorry, Ash," she started, trying to relighten the mood, "Only I can call Luke, Puke; find your own nickname."
He left the room with a sigh, bringing a bar of chocolate with him. Luke let out deep breaths and rubbed his tired eyes, deciding on what else he could do with the girl who currently trailing behind him, carrying two spoons and the small tub of ice cream that Ashton had bought her. She walked funny, trying to keep up with the taller boy, especially since her legs were much shorter, and she struggled to refrain from dropping anything. When they finally made it to Luke's room, Ava placed the things she had brought onto his bedside table, pulling up the skinny jeans she wore, convinced that all the feeling in her legs was gone. Not really caring about anything except her suffocating limbs, she began to pull down her pants, kicking them off and folding them neatly before placing them on a chair in the corner by the TV.
Luke stayed silent as she did this regretting ruining the mood by getting affected by Ashton's fuckboy comment, thinking of ways to make up for it, and also baffled at how someone could be so beautiful yet so unaware of their beauty. Ava didn't even have to try, she was beautiful no matter what, with makeup, without makeup; she was just exquisite and Luke was utterly in love with her. And it scared him so much, because she was someone who was crazy and weird and unbelievably socially educated and pretty and she had great music taste; she was kind and had a big heart and, god, Luke was sure that this was all sme dream he was going to wake up from because Ava was somebody who didn't seem possible.
She wasn't perfect, not even close to it, but that meant nothing. She was someone who understood him and took the time to do it, even when she was the one who could've used that time to work on her own mental health. And for him to be hit with the epitome that she was in his life, the girl who once almost caused a traffic jam because she saw a rare butterfly in her rear view mirror, was something he would would face everyday. He found it upsetting that not even a month or two ago, he had locked her out of his life and stopped being friends with her. That he ignored her for such a long period of time, when she was just...
She was unlike anything he'd ever known.
•••
i am such a mess god bless my soul
for the past weeks writing this, i watched movies, listened to songs, listened to the hamilton soundtrack and read poems to find inspiration to add to this chapter and some future ones.
ALSO IM LATE BUT IT WAS 5 YEARS OF 5SOS A COUPLE DAYS AGO AND IM SHOOK???
it's so weird because i have been in this fandom (which by the way, no offense, was WAY less shitty when i joined) since 2012 and i feel like a mom since i remember when they first started and when their first music videos came out wow
(@ michael; still waiting for the studio version of superhero that you said you would release in that twitcam u had with calum three years ago, fight me)
anyways
this is really weird because so many things have happened and the destruction is not even done yet, like i have a chapter planned that is based off of if you don't know so yikes but i have a lot planned.
thank you SO MUCH for 7.3k!!! i was looking back on my old chapters and i read an authors note that said "thanks for 200 reads" and i was shook outta this world.
hope you enjoyed