All The Mistakes I've Made

Part one

Luke was awakened by the thud of the plane hitting the ground, alerting him that they had arrived in the states. He was jetlagged and groggy. The only thing that kept him from falling back asleep was remembering that he would be reunited with Michael within a matter of minutes. The thought suddenly made Luke feel wide awake.

It had been over a week since he had last seen Michael - and for Luke that was just too damn long. Luke had to go straight from spending nearly every waking moment with Michael for the past 3+ years to suddenly not being in touching or travel distance of him. He hadn't expected it to be that hard of a transition; he even thought it might be healthy for their friendship to spend some forced time apart. But halfway into their time apart and 5 Facetimes, 3 phone calls and hundreds of texts later, Luke realized his codependency of Michael might be a problem he wasn't ready to face any time soon. Calum and Ashton teased him relentlessly about his inability function alone properly without the red haired boy by his side, and Luke just joked along with them. If he had let them know it was actually a big deal to Luke, he would never hear the end of it from them.

All of that was in the past now. Michael got a new passport, and Luke was about to see his face in person, and not over a shitty-iphone-facetime-resolution that Luke had realized didn't do proper justice to Michael's eyes. Green eyes that shined when he was excited about something or shut tight when he laughed genuinely. It also didn't do justice to his pale but soft skin, or his fluffy hair - and don't get Luke started on how much he missed the cuddles. Calum and Ashton just don't seem to know how to do it right, and even if they did it wouldn't be the same as Michaels.

"Ready to see YOUR boy, Lukey?" Calum pestered Luke, as he stood up from the seat behind Luke to get his carry-on luggage from the space above them. Luke was ripped away from his thoughts of Michael's body to focus on a wide awake Calum that hovered above him. He realized that Calum must have seen Luke whip out his phone to text Michael that they were here the moment the plane stopped moving.

"What?" Luke responding, pretending to still be half asleep.

Calum put a hand on Luke's shoulder, grinning wickedly. "As good as an actor as you might think you are, Hemmings, you know good and well Ash and I have both noticed you being more homesick about not being with Michael for a week then you ever have been about not seeing your damn family for months. And because I know it's been hitting you the hardest, I'll even let you get the first hug, as long as it stays g-rated."

Luke definitely did not blush when Calum said that.

"Excuse me," Ashton interjected as he approached them from the back of the plane, all carry-ons in his hands. He was wide awake as well, and Luke just didn't understand it. Calum and Ashton seemed to always be awake and alert at the most stupid times. He and Michael had concluded that this was the result of Michael and Luke being night owls and Calum and Ashton being early birds.

"I think it's safe to say I miss Michael the most." Ashton argued, tone sounding very serious but his face saying otherwise, making eye contact with Luke, trying to get a reaction out of him. "I've definitely tweeted him the most since we've been gone. The first hug belongs to ME!"

"Bullshi-" Luke interrupted himself by accidentally hitting his head in the lowered ceiling above him, not ducking enough as he tried to get out of his seat. Ashton let out a loud laugh that echoed through the plane, and Calum began laughing too, more at Ashton's laugh than anything else. Luke found himself laughing with them.

Being with just Ashton and Calum wasn't all bad. It wasn't bad at all. It would have been just so much better with Michael.

~~~

Luke's eyes whipped around the airport, searching for a 6 foot man-boy with red hair. Luke already loved Michael's crazy colored hair, but it especially came in handy at times like this. It was late afternoon, around 5pm, and Luke was surprised at the lack of fans waiting for them at the airport. Maybe they're all at the entrance waiting for them there, he thought to himself. Or maybe they looked at the temperature and thought "fuck it" and went home. That's what Luke would've done himself if he say the weather drop below 30F. He was about to ask Ashton what he thought it was when Calum's voice rang in his right ear. "Oh, there's that fucker."