eighteen
Michael took the bottle of red wine from Luke, placing it to his lips and tilting his head back. "This is really good shit," he says, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
"I've got good wine, it's a hobby." Luke took the bottle back, copying his coworker's movements.
"Being an alcoholic is a hobby?"
Luke rolled his eyes, "That's not funny."
The two were planning on spending their Friday night on Luke's couch, drinking expensive wine and watching House of Cards until their eyes hurt. This was pretty normal for the two, they liked raiding Luke's wine shelf and Michael's Netflix.
It was half an hour past 9, the two men finish 3/4 of their wine. There was a knock on Luke's door and both automatically yelled nose-goes, pressing their index finger to their nose.
"This is your place," Michael whined, not wanting to get up.
"You should've won nose-goes, then." Luke batted his eyelashes at Mike, giving up once another knock came on the front door and Michael hadn't made a single movement.
Luke gave Michael their bottle of wine, knowing Mike was going to finish it off before Luke even left the couch.
The blonde got up, rolling up the sleeves of his sweater as he opened up the front door. His older brother stood in front of him, Lou and Lucille at his sides. "I need you to babysit them."
"Well, hey to you, too."
"Lucas, I'm in a rush."
"Fine! Fine!" Luke moved to the side, letting his two nieces run into his apartment, already dropping their bags to the floor and jumping onto Michael. "I have a friend over, couldn't you have given me—?"
"No, I got called in night shift and Lisa is on a work trip. Be back tomorrow morning." Luke watched his brother turn around, leaving Luke with two girls.
He babysits Lou and Lucille often, the 5 and 7 year old enjoying Luke's snack food more than their own. Luke doesn't really know how to take care of them, though. He feeds them gummy bears and lets them stay up until midnight. He lets them do so many things that they weren't supposed to do.
That was Luke's brother fault, though. He probably shouldn't trust Luke with the two girls.
Luke closed the front door, turning around to see the girls cuddling into Michael. Lou was on his left, Lucille on his right. The both found space between his arms and thighs, making it impossible for Michael not to cuddle them back.
Luke sat down, pausing their episode of House of Cards and turning on something more age-appropriate.
Luke, Michael, and the two girls shared a blanket for a few hours, mindlessly watching HGTV until the sleepless city started to feel more at sleep.
"Are they sleeping here?" Michael whispered, pointing to the couch.
Luke nodded as he rubbed his eyes. "Are you staying over?"
Michael licked over his chapped lips and tried to zone in at how tired he truly was. "Yeah, if that's alright."
Luke stood up, trying to get the girls' hands to let Michael free from their grasp.
It took a bit, but the girls got comfortable on the couch as Luke walked around the apartment, turning off lights and making sure their front door was locked.
Mike laid in Luke's bed, not understanding why he felt so damn comfortable in Luke's sheets. He turned to his side, waiting for Luke to come in and lay down with him.
He didn't want to bang Luke, he just wanted to sleep with him. He wanted to curl his arms over Luke's body and fall asleep listening to their heartbeats.
They did just that, Luke staring at Michael and Michael staring at Luke. "Do you want kids?" Luke asked, his hands crawling up Mike's body and cupping his cheek. His thumb ran over Michael's cheekbone, following it down to his lips before going back up.
"I don't know. I kind of raised my brother, I think I did enough parenting for my entire lifetime."
"Tell me about your brother. Tell me about your family." Luke brought his hand back to his own body, cuddling into his sheets.
Michael shook his head, "Maybe another time." He closed his eyes, feeling his body calming down. "What about you? Do you want kids?"
Luke looked down, staring at nothing in particular. "My ex-wife and I were about to have a kid but she had a miscarriage, then we got divorced a few months later."
"Aw, I'm sorry."
He shrugged, trying not to get hurt as everything came back to him. "It wasn't even because of the stress of losing our child. I walked in with her in bed with someone new, do you know how much that hurts?"
"I don't, but I can imagine it sucks."
"She was my better half—I thought so at least." Luke was ranting, but he couldn't stop. "She fucked me over, you know? Like, I can't see myself getting married again even though I want to get married so badly."
"Life happens, you've just gotta let it."
Luke rolled onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. As a kid, he had those glow-in-the-dark stars plastered to the ceiling and now, at thirty-five-years-old, he wants them again. "I'm getting old. Too old to have kids, too old to get married. I can't fathom the thought of growing old all alone, though."
"You don't grow old unless you want to." Michael scooted over, resting his head on Luke's chest and entwining their legs together. "You'll find someone out there. You'll have kids, you'll be happy again."
Something deep inside of Michael began to hope that Michael would be Luke's happy ever after.
He doesn't want feelings for Luke, though, so he ignores it all.
He listens to Luke until his sentences become staggered and slowly begins to fall asleep.
kids r gross
