Blackout

Ch 11 - Muke AF

"Alright, it's my turn," Alexis announced. "Luke, truth or dare?"

"Oh, um... truth, I guess." He suddenly seemed nervous. He probably had a right to be. There's no telling what Lex was going to ask him.

After thinking it over for a minute or two, she finally decided on her plan of attack. "What's one of your most embarrassing guilty pleasures?"

If a hole opened up in the ground right then, I think he would have dove in head first, no questions asked. "Is it too late to change to dare?" he asked, looking anywhere but at the group.

"Yep," she responded, showing him no sympathy at all. "Fess up, Hemmings."

"Alright, fine. I, um... I guess I kinda... I mean, only just a little..."

"Spit it out, dude," Calum told him impatiently.

"Iliketoreadfanfiction!" he spat out in a rush. I didn't think it was possible, but even in the darkness, you could see that his face became red as he quickly dropped his head into his hands.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Ashton asked. "I couldn't really make out what you said."

Luke took a deep dramatic sigh and raised his head. "I like to read fanfiction, okay?! It's really not that big of a deal."

Michael, however, thought it was a HUGE deal. His face was a mixture of shock, disgust, and a small amount of curiosity. "What the fuck, dude?? You read fanfiction? About US?"

"Well, yeah. I'm not going to read it about some other band. That would be weird."

"Please, please tell me you don't read smut," Calum groaned, looking like he didn't really want to know the answer.

This statement caused me to be momentarily sidetracked. "Hold up. How in the hell do you know what smut is?" Panic crossed his face as he realized his mistake.

"Yeah, Calum!" Luke shouted, desperate for the attention to be placed on anyone else but him. "How do you know what smut is, huh?"

"Well, shit. I guess I might have possibly checked out a few stories myself."

Luke was overjoyed. "See! I knew I wasn't the only one!"

"Don't get any funny ideas, though! I only read a couple of stories about me. There's no way in hell I'm reading anything about you assholes. And don't even get me started on all the Muke stories that are out there." This caused him to shudder dramatically. I, on the other hand, was now extremely confused.

"Wait, what's a Muke?" My question was met with silence and blank stares. It seemed to take them a minute to realize that I was being serious.

"Wow. I keep forgetting that you guys aren't die-hard fans," Ashton said with a laugh. "Muke is Michael and Luke's ship name. Michael plus Luke equals Muke. Most of our fans seem to be Muke AF."

"So, wait. Let me get this straight." Alexis had her concentrating face on, obviously determined to get this Muke thing right. "By 'ship' do you mean that they like you two as a couple? Like, romantically?"

"No!" Michael shouted. "Well, I mean, kinda, I guess. Apparently some girls are into that kind of stuff. But I swear, it's only fiction! None of that stuff they write is true."

"Well, most of it isn't true," Calum clarified. "A lot of the stuff about Ashton is spot on." He looked like he had just won the lottery as he smirked at his bandmate. Ashton, however, didn't seem too impressed. I needed to know more.

"Oh, yeah? What kind of stuff?"

Luke, Michael, and Calum burst into laughter, the three of them giggling like little girls. Ashton tried to play it off. "Nothing, nothing. They're just being idiots. Don't pay them any attention."

I wasn't buying it. "I call bullshit. What kind of stuff?"

Before Ashton could cut him off, Calum spoke up. "Let's just say Ash is really, um, fatherly." This caused the boys to go into hysterics again. If looks could kill, they would all be dead in seconds.

I was still trying to figure out what was so funny, but Alexis seemed to put the pieces together faster than I could.

"You've gotta be kidding me! A daddy kink? Really??"

To Ashton's credit, he didn't look too ashamed. His cheeks were only slightly pink with embarrassment, but he had a small smile on his face. "What can I say?" he shrugged. "I like what I like."

I had to stop myself from thinking about this new knowledge too much. The idea of a dominant Ashton was almost too much to handle. I mean, have you seen those fingers? Holy sh...

"You alright?" Calum asked me with a squeeze.

"Oh, yeah. I'm great. Yep. Perfectly fine." He gave me a weird look, but let it go. Now, that my attention was focused on him, I began to wonder if Calum had any special, um, preferences... "Snap out of it, Tori!" I told myself. I gave my head a little shake to clear it. This was a dangerous road to be walking down, especially while there was alcohol in my system.

"Alright, alright. Enough about me," Ashton told the group. "Luke, it's your turn to go."

"Okay, let's see....Tori. Truth or dare?"

Oh, shit. My first instinct was the pick truth, but the rum flowing through my veins had other ideas. "Dare." There was a collective 'ooooh' let out by the boys, and I immediately regretted my decision. Maybe I should have picked truth after all.

Luke thought for a minute before his eyes lit up with mischief. "I've the perfect thing..."