no one has to know || muke

thirty seven

luke dreadfully arrives at a restaurant that ashton had gave him the address of just a few days ago. he has never been here before, but it's fancy. everyone looks civilized on the inside, dressed nicely and professionally.

he doesn't want to be here. he doesn't want to be in a place where he feels as if he doesn't belong. all he wanted was to be with michael with nothing standing in their way. he didn't know having a secret relationship would be this hard.

trying to get all the thoughts out of his mind, his eyes scan the crowded dining room area, looking for the boy who he has showed up for.

he spots ashton waving to him in the far side of the place. he offers a nod in acknowledgment, letting the curly hair boy know that he has seen him as he approaches the table where ashton and his two parents have sat. he couldn't believe he let ashton talk him into this.

luke has never gotten to a stage in a relationship where he was introduced to the parents. he was nervous, to say the least, even if he wasn't actually in a relationship with ashton. he wanted to impress the parents and not let ashton down knowing that he could tell the secret whenever he would like.

as the slightly older man stands up, luke notices how undeniably attractive ashton looks. the curls on his head were nicely set in place. he had on a white button down, similar to the black one luke had on. he had a wide smile on his lips, showing off his pearly whites. luke has a slightly forced smile on his lips, and as he goes to give ashton a hug, he is greatly surprised when ashton gives him a peck on the lips instead.

"hey, baby," ashton says, his arm around luke's waist.

luke is shocked from the kiss to say anything at first, but he quickly clears his throat and pretends it didn't happen as he also tries to ignore the pet name ashton called him, "hey, sorry I'm late."

"not to worry," ashton takes a steady breath as he turns to his parents, eyes set on him and luke, "mum, dad, this is luke."

luke's body tenses as ashton'a parents set their eyes on him. they seem to inspect him. his appearance, his stance. he feels uncomfortable and judged. usually luke would never care about what people thought about him, but this certain situation was making him uneasy and he couldn't help but care about what ashton's parents were thinking.

"it's nice to meet you, luke. ashton has spoke about you a lot," mrs, irwin is the first one to speak up.

luke forces a smile upon his lips, "all good things I hope."

"of course," ashton speaks up, taking luke's hand and nearly pulling him down into his chair that sat across from ashton's mum.

no words are spoken for what feels like a decade. luke doesn't mind it. he rather sit in an awkward silence that be faced with the fact that he was here, pretending to like someone when all he wanted to do was go home and be with michael, even if luke was more confused than ever about them. he needed to talk to mike about a lot of topics that calum brought up.

mr. irwin decides to speak, breaking the silence, "so, how long have you two been together?"

luke bites the inside of his cheek as he glances at ashton from the corner of his eye, waiting for him to have an answer.

"a little over six months," ashton replies smoothly.

"and how did you meet?"