cake oneshots || book one

Watch Me Watching You

"What was that?"

Crap! Luke had noticed.

Calum kept his eyes fixed firmly on his phone and carefully avoided meeting Luke's eyes. He would've liked to pretend he hadn't heard the question all together. Unfortunately, they were the only two people in the small holding room, and the acoustics in here were excellent. It would be too obvious he was deliberately ignoring Luke if he didn't answer.

"What was what?" He asked, feigning boredom.

"That thing you did on stage tonight." Luke sounded exasperated. But the blond was not so easily deterred; he made a production of dropping into the love-seat beside Calum so his big body invaded the older boy's personal space, an arm stretching over the back of the couch and around Calum's shoulder.

The brunette swallowed uncomfortably at their proximity, subtly shifting back into himself to move away from the larger man and the intoxicating warmth he presented. He dared a peek up from beneath the protection of his eye-lashes, only to be caught by intense blue eyes. Luke was watching him intently, his expression frozen somewhere between amused, annoyed, and probing.

Oh hell.

He was in trouble.

Best to stick to the old adage. Deny. Deny. Deny. Luke couldn't prove anything if he never admitted it.

"What thing on stage?" He asked, pretending like he hadn't just spent the last hour ogling Luke during their acoustic performance.

Unfortunately, he wasn't fooling Luke.

"Oh no. You're not going to get out of it that easy." The blond whipped out his cell-phone and played with it for a second before he thrust it in front of Calum's face.

It was a video of the performance they just finished. More specifically, it was a video of Calum's love-struck face as he stared at Luke, all adoring eyes, and enamored smiles. Calum squirmed in his seat, horrified but unable to look away from the goddamn video (which went on for four minutes, thirty four mortifying seconds), even capturing a particularly cringe-worthy moment when Luke glanced in his direction and he blushed, cheeks turning a ridiculous shade of fluorescent pink.

He couldn't help it! His stupid band-mate decided he needed to go on stage in that black three-quarter sleeve length t-shirt which made his shoulders look like they wouldn't fit through a regular-sized door. And adding insult to injury, Luke threw on his red snap-back at the last minute and somehow managed to look like a model. Tina Fey probably wrote that 'Mean Girls' line for Luke Hemmings. His hair looked sexy pushed back. Or flat. Or when he just woke up and it was flying all over the place.

Okay. This line of thinking was not helping his already precarious situation.

He had to punt fast.

"Uh... yeah, bro. You played pretty good tonight." That was good! A totally platonic bro-on-bro compliment! He even managed not to squeak!

"Bro?"

Calum had stubbornly kept his eyes on his phone; but he could practically hear one of Luke's eye-brows raise itself in disbelief.

"Yeah. Bro. I'm a bro. You're a bro. We're bros." This time he did squeak. Goddamn it.

"That's not what twitter thinks."

Calum groaned inwardly. He could just imagine what was happening on twitter. Stupid, overly-imaginative fan-girls, and stupid Luke for paying any attention to them. At least in this case.

"Heh... well, you know how thirsty these fan-girls get for Cake."

"So there was Cake?" Luke asked, sounding entirely too amused for Calum's liking.

He realized his mistake, but it was too late to do anything about it. "No. There was no Cake. None."

"No? No Cake? The fan-girls saw that video of you watching me and now they think you're in love with me." He flexed his hand around Calum's shoulder, drawing the brunette closer into his side. "Guess they were wrong."

Now, Calum couldn't keep his irritation in check. This stupid blond and his stupid ego! He turned in Luke's direction, looking into infuriatingly unperturbed blue eyes with mouth set into a hard-pout, brows furrowed, and cheeks flushed with anger. "It was one video! Do you know how many videos there are where you look like you're undressing me with your eyes? Guess that means you must be in love with me, huh?" He asked sarcastically, one finger coming up to poke Luke in the chest.

There! That should get this jerk to back off real quick.

He was not expecting Luke's self-assured reply.

"Who is to say I'm not?"

Calum's big, round eyes widened and snapped up to meet Luke's. "So you are undressing me with your eyes? Or you are in love with me?" He croaked out, an uncomfortable itch in the back of his throat, suddenly unsure which of those he'd rather have.

Luke's hands slid lower until they rested in the hollow of his waist. "Both."

Calum could feel his heart plop into his stomach. Disbelief and joy and uncertainty and terror and joy coursed through him as he tried to wrap his mind around what he just heard. Did Luke Hemmings just say he was in love with him? Goofy old Calum with his frizzy hair and his too-wide nose and his irritating laugh? That couldn't possibly be right.

He had to reply, say something, anything really. But each time he opened his mouth to reply, his brain froze, left him gaping like a fish. Unimpressive, to be sure.

But apparently, it was the reaction Luke was searching for because in the next moment, long pale arms were pulling him close, so close that he was practically sitting in the younger boy's lap.

Terrified, Calum made halfhearted attempts to move back into his seat, cursing himself for choosing to sit on this tiny love-seat where his thinking was clouded by Luke's delicious scent, an intoxicating combination of his sweat, and his aftershave, and his leather jacket that Calum secretly loved to bury his face in when no one was looking. Anyway Luke's toned, protective arms were wrapped too tight around him for him to have much maneuverability. In the end, Calum chose to stay where he was, looking down to hide his eyes beneath his lashes, fingers digging into his palm.

But the dumb blond wouldn't even let him have that much protection. Long fingers reached under Calum's chin and tilted up, so he was forced to stare into questioning blue, their lips barely an inch apart.

So close. So very, very close. But incomplete. Calum suddenly came to the realization that Luke was waiting for him.

From this distance, Calum finally saw the vulnerability in Luke's face, the crease in his forehead, the tension in his jaw as the blond stared right back him, imploring him to answer. Calum lifted blunt fingers up to scratch Luke's cheek and down over his five-o-clock stubble, searching his face for any hint of mockery with soft, unsure brown eyes. His other hand found its place on Luke's chest, resting directly over his heart.

It was beating hard and fast. Just like his own.

Satisfied, Calum smiled and leaned forward, closing that last bit of distance between their lips.

+++++

There was a lot of big words in that

Anyway I really need to figure out an updating schedule because I'm kinda doing it at random right now

Like idk should I update like every other day or just like a designated day once a week like Friday or something? Hmmm...