~ So this was requested by @radioactive-pizza and I am so so sorry because it didn't go as I wanted it to and it's really not that good but let me know if you want me to try again because I will :)
Oh and another thing, for all of you. As you've probably noticed, english isn't my first lauguage so if there's any words or phrases I use wrong or if I misspell things, let me know :) xx /M ~
“Hey Luke? Wanna come over after school today?” Michael opens his locker, keeping his eyes on the tall blonde to his left as he takes his books out. Luke’s busy looking for his own books, unable to find anything in the mess he calls his locker. Michael notices his struggles and pushes Luke to the side, taking his books out from under an empty bag of chips.
“Well I can’t, I’m gonna hang out with Cal.” Luke says, failing miserably when he tries to look sad. Michael nods, doing a much better job with hiding his emotions than Luke did. After all, this isn’t anything new.
Michael and Luke have been best friends since forever. They don’t even remember when they first met, they’ve just always been together. Their mums used to joke about how they weren’t even sure which was whose son, Michael’s sure they still do, if they ever talk to each other. Parents can be so oblivious to the changes their kids go through, so he doesn’t expect his mum or Liz to have noticed that they aren’t hanging out as much anymore. It would upset his mum a whole lot, she’s never been a big fan of changes and even though people grow apart as they get older, she’s always hoped that Michael and Luke would be those friends that never ever drifted apart.
It’s not that they aren’t best friends anymore, they’re as close as ever, it’s just that to Luke that friendship seem to be limited to when they’re in school, for the time being. They still spend the lessons making funny faces at each other, trying to be the first to make the other laugh, and they mess around at lunch, but when the last bell rings Luke’s always the first out of the classroom, eager to go see his boyfriend.
Michael’s happy for him, of course he is, just like he knows Luke would be happy for him if he found someone, but he’s lonely now and sometimes he can’t help but hate Calum, hate the kiwi boy for stealing his Lukey away, for swooping in and making him forget about how Michael’s been there with him through everything, always ready to comfort him with cuddles and ice cream or to knock some sense into him. Calum makes Luke happy in ways Michael wouldn’t be able to, but Michael never expected this.
“oh, okay.” Luke nods, no longer trying to hide just how excited he is. It doesn't matter that they’ve been together for months, he still gets all excited whenever he talks about Calum, when he knows they’re soon going to see each other again. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Luke nods again before turning around, leaving Michael alone by their lockers. Michael suddenly feels very done with school so he throws his books back into his locker before slamming it shut, starting to walk towards the doors.
~
“Fancy seeing you here Hood.” the voice makes Calum jump and he spins around, trying to find where it’s coming from. “over here.” Michael’s leaning against a wall, invisible from the school’s windows. He’s holding a lighter and keeps lighting it, seemingly unaware of what he’s doing.
“What are you doing here Michael?” Calum walks closer to him, not wanting to risk being seen since he’s not allowed to be on the school grounds. “aren’t you supposed to be in class?” Michael shrugs and there’s something in his eyes, something that tells Calum that under that punk rock facade, the mask, Michael’s got up, something’s bothering him.
“school sucks.” Michael doesn’t seem like he’s going to elaborate so Calum nods before hesitantly walking over to Michael, actually managing to trip over his own feet a couple times. Michael doesn't comment on that, he’s too busy trying to hate Calum. He wants to hate him, wants to hate him for taking Luke away from him, but he can’t.
“want to talk about it?” Calum looks around, placing his bag on the ground between them. “about what’s bothering you I mean.” he says, opening the bag and pulling out two chocolate bars, handing one of them to Michael. Michael accepts it but hesitates. He’s not sure talking to Calum about what he’s feeling, Calum is, after all, the reason to why he’s feeling the way he does. But if he doesn’t talk to Calum, who else would he talk to? He can’t talk to Luke.
“I’m just….lonely, you know?” he says, not looking at Calum. “I don’t have a lot of friends, I only really have one. I’m happy for Luke, I really really am because you seem like a great guy, but now he’s always with you and I never have anyone to hang out with after school. I guess I’m not used to it.”
“You could hang out with us.” Calum says, biting his lip. He feels bad, wondering why he didn’t realise this was happening. He knew Luke and Michael rarely went anywhere without each other before they started dating and even though he knew, he didn’t question it when Luke always seemed to have time for him, never seemed to have things planned with Michael.
“yeah, because third wheeling is so much fun.” Michael rolls his eyes. “it’s fine, I mean it’s not like I didn’t expect something like this to happen.” Calum slowly nods, not knowing what to say. “it’s whatever really.” Michael fishes his phone from his pocket, checking the time before putting it back. “I’ve gotta go, they’ll be out soon and if anyone sees me…” Calum nods and before he knows it Michael’s gone, walking across the parking lot and disappearing around a corner.
~
“Luke?” Calum's laying on his back on the floor in Luke’s room. They’re not really doing anything, since they got there they’ve just talked and listened to music, and now Luke’s doing his homework while Calum’s just...laying there. “why are you ditching your friends because of me?”
“what? I’m not!” Calum sits up, looking at Luke, who’s laying on his bed. Luke’s put his pencil down and is now staring at the dark eyed boy. “like yes, I want to spend time with you but is that so wrong? You’re my boyfriend goddamnit.”
“But that’s not a reason to blow everyone else off!” Calum says, getting up from the floor. “When was the last time you spent time with Michael outside school?” Luke doesn’t answer, he’s desperately trying to remember when he saw Michael outside school last. “How do you not see how sad he is? How he feels like he’s lost his best friend?” Luke bites his lips, sitting in silence as Calum yells at him.
“Calum, why are you so upset about this?” he asks, holding his arms out. This isn’t new to him, having someone yell at him like this. He’s spent hours listening to Michael go on and on about something that’s upset him, he’s used to calming the bright haired boy down. And Calum seems to be at least a little bit like Michael, because when Luke holds his arms out he walks over to him, sitting down on his lap.
“It happened to me too.” he sighs, taking Luke’s hand. “I had a best friend too, just like you do, and he got a girlfriend and suddenly I didn’t matter anymore.
~
“Ashton! Hey, do you want to go see the new Terminator movie with me this weekend?” Calum runs up to Ashton, accidentally bumping into the lockers when he tries to stop. “It’s gonna be awesome! Like the first ones were amazing so this one has to be as well!”
“Uh yeah...no. I can’t.” Ashton doesn’t even look up from his phone, he can’t even be bothered with looking at Calum. “I’m gonna see Emma.”
“Oh okay.” Calum doesn’t even try to hide his disappointment, but it goes unnoticed since Ashton’s still busy texting. “but we’re still up for next weekend right?” they’ve been planning it for months, they’re going to see all the Lord Of The Rings movies in one go and just hang out, just like they’ve done once a year since they were ten.
“Actually...I’m going on a date with Emma.” Calum just stands there for a while, not knowing what to say, and Ashton doesn’t even look up from his phone. He stands there, laughing at his phone, and then he just leaves. He just walks away, leaving Calum alone in the hallway.
~
Luke listened to Calum tell him about Ashton and Emma, he listened and he suddenly understood what he’d been doing to Michael. He suddenly remembers all those times when Michael would ask him to hang out and he would just turn him down, thinking that maybe he’d do something with Calum. He listened and when Calum left, half an hour later, he texted Michael asking if he could come by. And now here he is, walking towards Michael’s house. The sun has started to set and it’s quite chilly, but when he rounds a corner he sees Michael sitting on the pavement outside his house, watching the cars drive by. Luke walks, sitting down next to him. Neither of them say anything, they just sit there for a while watching the cars.
“my ass hurts.” Luke says after half an hour, finally breaking the silence.
“didn’t need to know that.” Michael answers, pulling his jacket a bit closer.
“didn’t mean it like that.” Luke thinks he hears Michael mumble something like “I know” but he isn’t sure. “I’m sorry Mikey, about you know, ditching you all the time. We always talk about how we shouldn’t let anyone come between us and I let that happen.”
“it’s fine, you’re in love and all that.” Michael gets up, holding his hand out to help Luke on his feet as well. “I get it.”
“Michael please, I know you want to be all punk rock and that but don’t play this off as it’s nothing. What I did was stupid and selfish and I totally get it if you’re mad but I’m not gonna lose you just because we won’t talk about it.” instead of answering, Michael steps forward and hides his face in Luke’s neck, hugging him tightly.
“You’re a dickhead Luke, but you’re my dickhead and that’s never gonna change, no matter how many boyfriends you get.” he mumbles, barely audible. “but I swear to god if I ever walk in on your two having sex I’m leaving the country.” Luke laughs and nods, not wanting to let go.
“Do you want to go to the cinema with me tomorrow? just you and me?” he asks, feeling Michael nod. “okay, good.”
“You know, you could bring Calum too, he’s pretty cool.” hearing that, Luke feels like nothing could have made him happier, knowing that Michael accepts that he’s with Calum, knowing that he’s okay with it, makes it feel like it’s christmas all over again.
“nah, you know what? let’s just go you and me, like we used to.”