You Will Be Okay - Muke

16

Michael drove them all back to Luke's place.

"You guys came at a great time, now you can help me move all my shit into the truck tomorrow." Luke jeered, throwing an arm around Calum.

"Lucky us." Ashton huffed.

Michael had jumped onto Ashton's back and the eldest boy was carrying him to the door.

"We could watch a movie in the basement." Luke suggested as he held the door for his friends to head inside.

"Sounds like a plan." Michael gleamed, still not touching the ground.

"I'll make popcorn." Luke quipped excitedly as he made his way towards the kitchen.

Calum and Ashton made eye contact and Calum sent him a look.

"You take the clingy koala down stairs, I'll catch up." Calum assured.

Ashton leaned down to pressed a kiss to Calum's lips before carrying Michael off.

Luke was on his tiptoes reaching for the bags of microwaveable popcorn when Calum walked into the kitchen.

Calum reached up and plucked the popcorn from the shelf before handing it to Luke, "Can we talk?"

"About?" Luke quizzed, pretending to read the popcorn instructions- like he hadn't made it a hundred times before.

"About how you are." Calum muttered.

Luke's eyes flickered up to meet Calum's.

"I'm fine." Luke assured.

He took the packet and placed it in the microwave, setting the timer and hitting start.

For a moment, the hum of the microwave was the only sound.

"I miss them too sometimes." Calum whispered, looking down at his feet.

Calum was practically another son to Luke's parents.

And although they weren't his parents, and he couldn't begin to compare to Luke's suffering, it still hurt.

The microwave beeped.

Once.

Twice.

Neither boy reached to stop the microwave and eventually it stopped itself, leaving them in silence.

"They were so excited to see you." Luke piped up.

Calum's eyes flickered up to meet Luke's.

The blonde had crossed his arms at some point. Almost like he was putting up a barrier of protection to let another one fall.

That's how Cal knew Luke was being vulnerable.

"The whole ride up they couldn't stop talking about you." Luke muttered.

"Really?" Cal quizzed.

Luke barely managed a smile, "My mom had a copy of that article you did on that study about genes and she so was so determined to get it autographed."