boxer ⋆ luke hemmings ✔️

17. Angry Kid.

He paced the slippery floor of the cinema's public restrooms because he didn't know what to do.

Luke was restless. The film had finished just under five minutes ago, and Sophie had excused herself to go to the ladies' toilets, therefore giving him the perfect amount of time to think alone. Only he didn't trust himself alone in the slightest- he was afraid he'd do something very, very, very stupid.

He wasn't angry, nowhere near it. In fact, the emotion that he was currently feeling wasn't even negative at all. It was happy, so incredibly happy, and it absolutely terrified him.

Luke had never been good at dealing with his emotions, what with the majority of his high school life being spent under a magnifying glass set in place by the institute's guidance counsellor. He had always been a pretty closed-off kid; the quiet one lurking at the back of the class, sullen blue eyes, body draped all in black. Your typical, anger-filled, angst-ridden teen. But there was nothing typical about Luke at all; an unpredictable case, as his therapist at the time would call him.

He was feared, though he didn't mean to be. He was liked, though he found himself very unlikable. And he was violent, so very violent, and the slight glint in his eye was living proof that he was dangerous.

He just had a lot of anger and not enough ways to get rid of it. At least that's what Luke had been told, continuously by everybody around him.

He used to be pissed off about a lot of things; his teachers, his father, even his older brothers. He used to flip tables over his parents' divorce, and he used to throw chairs when he realised that he could do nothing about it. Luke's rage had spiralled into an oblivion that was hopeless for others to pull him out of, and there was nothing much he could do to help himself.

It wasn't that Luke Hemmings was a bad kid- no, his mother made sure of that. If there was anything that Luke deemed the woman good for, it would have to be the way that she was able to prevent him from provoking his violence into adulthood. He was just awful at keeping his feelings at bay, choosing to wear his heart upon his sleeve rather than concealing it like most people did, and that wasn't her fault.

It often led to fights- a lot of them. It led to him getting sent to the principal's office, to a phone call home, to Joy Hood having to come in and talk to the headmaster because his own mother had had enough of his bullshit for one day. It led to Calum always having to clean up after his mess, too; whether it be physically, like helping Luke's victims sort themselves out, or metaphorically, like giving a witness account of what happened and tilting the story in Luke's favour.

Long story short, Luke Hemmings had been angry his whole life, and Sophie Hood was a goddamn puzzle because she was slowly- but surely- changing that for him.

He sighed, washing his hands and gazing thoughtfully at himself in the mirror. He didn't look like the type to be seen hanging around with an innocent, seventeen-year-old sweetheart, watching Wonder Woman and getting all cosy with her at the back, but that's exactly what he'd done; a certain sting to his 'bad-boy reputation', but it wasn't like Luke cared.

Besides, Sophie had loved the film. He could forget about everything else.

"Dude, I think one of my balls is bigger than the other."

Luke's head snapped up, slightly bewildered at the sound of the simple statement. It wouldn't have been as bad if it wasn't directed towards him personally- he'd be able to laugh it off, then.

Only it wasn't, and he was speechless, and his eyes narrowed as they landed on a familiar, smirking face.

"Eddie?"