something new

prologue

luke ran into the man's arms once he saw him at the gate. it had been 7 months since they last saw each other in person but 5 years since they had spent more than a week and a half together. 

you might be wondering who this man is. his name is wes cavanagh and he is 24 years old. luke hemmings is his boyfriend of 6 years who is 22. 

the couple met in their high school art class, when wes asked if luke would be his subject for a painting. the students had been told to paint something beautiful they saw in their future and luke blushed intensely. the whole class was in awe that the wes cavanagh pretty much flirted luke hemmings, the quiet, catholic, cute boy.

after that day in art the pair became inseparable for days until wes finally asked luke on a date. people were shocked to find out that luke was extremely abstinent. he didn't even kiss.

luke and wes had arrived at luke's after their first date and his parents were away at their beach house for the weekend. the couple went inside and luke asked wes if he wanted to go swimming in his pool. he gave wes a pair of trunks to borrow and wes was confused when luke handed him a shirt too. luke saw the look on wes' face and gave a nervous smile. luke really liked wes already and he knew he was going to ruin it by telling him what he had to say.

"um..my mom..she's uh...she's very religious and i am too but not as devoted as she is. we have different values and opinions b-but anyways. she had me promise a few years ago when i came out that i-i..i wouldn't engage in any activity that could be seen as sexual or intimate." wes just stared at luke, "s-so um..i can't show my body off and i shouldn't stare at someone e-else's." still silence from wes, "s-so that's why you need a shirt." luke was starting to feel hot from his nerves, "and i totally understand if you don't...want to be with someone who can't give you f-fun times and all..all that. b-but...i-i'm a pretty fun person to be around, o-or at least i'd like to think so. and my mom always tells me that i never run out of things to talk about, which is funny because everyone at school thinks i'm some kind of mute or something. i bet i-if you gave me a chanc-"

wes stepped closer to luke and looked at his hand that didn't have trunks and a top in it, "can i?" he asked in reference to if he could hold luke's hand, "i-i guess." wes slowly took luke's hand, "i'd still love to get to know you better and date you, luke. relationships don't revolve completely around sex." luke smiled widely, "thank you." wes smiled back, "now if you tell me where the bathroom is, i'll go change in there while you stay here and we can meet in the living room when we're finished." luke nodded and told wes two doors down to the right.

that night they spent a few hours by and in the pool before it got too cold and they sat in the living room in front of the fire place watching some cheesy romance movie. luke had a huge smile on his face as he felt wes gently rubbing his hand with his thumb the whole time and not trying to make any other moves. 

luke finally found someone who respected him.

wes was a senior and a grade above luke when they dated. he got accepted to the Royal College of Art in london for college and couldn't turn down the opportunity: it was one of the only colleges that had a specific degree for art curation. 

luke was fine with wes leaving australia and going to london for school because they would facetime, text, call, and visit each other for breaks. it's not like they could miss the physical being of each other very much since they had hardly touched besides hugs, kisses on the cheek, or hand holding if luke's mom wasn't around. the couple seemed more like best friends than anything but neither of them minded.

during college, wes did an online internship with the head curator at the Museum of Modern Art in new york city. they skyped and wes helped contribute to decisions and the curator became more of a friend than a mentor. sometimes wes had to fly to new york for events and meetings with the museum and that's when he got to see luke. the trips contributed to his degree in college, happened about once a month and lasted for various times but never more than a week, but they were frequent enough that neither boy seemed to mind too much.

after college, the curator offered wes a job with him in new york for the museum, another opportunity he couldn't deny. luke was absolutely ecstatic when he heard the news, he was attending Parsons, the New School for Design in new york and living in a dorm. the job provided wes with an apartment right on central park on the east side, which was a worse commute for luke but he would get to live with wes and take the train a few stops with him, so he didn't really mind.

wes had all his belongings shipped to the u.s and luke set up the already furnished apartment with personal touches so that when wes arrived it would be more homey. luke couldn't wait for what their lives had in store.

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yay new story. i can't stop coming up with ideas that i know i will never finish and that no one will ever read. 

this is pretty sh.it but i just needed to get the essential beginners information out there. the next chapters will hopefully be better and actually plot-based.

x, ari