fifteen ; l.h.

her

"do you believe in fate?" noelle's soft voice broke their comfortable silence.

luke pressed his back against the cold door to the roof and shrugged half-heartedly, "not really, i guess. seems kind of stupid to me, personally."

"why's that?" she turned her head to him, eyes wide with curiosity.

"it's just, i don't think that something else, something bigger, should plan out our futures for us, you know? what happens to us should just happen. if i'm going to live a life, i want to make my own decisions, not let fate or whatever the hell it is decide for me."

"so me finding you here, making the almighty decision to end your life, that wasn't fate?"

"i'd like to call it an unfortunate coincidence," he corrected her bitingly.

"unfortunate? i didn't know saving a life was unfortunate," she crossed her arms over her chest.

"i meant unfortunate for you," luke chuckled coldly. "you found me. i think that's pretty unfortunate."

"i don't think so. i think i'm lucky i decided to go to the roof tonight." 

and she meant it. noelle didn't regret saving luke hemmings' life. she never would.

"stop that," he growled, standing suddenly as her heart skipped multiple beats. "stop acting like you care about me, alright? it's bullshit."

"is it?" she stood too, feeling her irritation grow at how stubborn he was being. "why can't you just be grateful?"

"grateful?" he whirled towards her, eyes ablaze with more emotion than she'd ever seen before. "fine, thank you so so much, noelle, for saving my life. my worthless fucking life. now i get to face all the people who see me as an inferior piece of shit. i get to face the world and literally feel how much everyone hates me. but really, thank you. you're my goddamn hero."

her fists clenched at her side as she looked up at his 6'4 figure. her heart ached for the boy and she wanted nothing more than to pull him into his arms and tell him about how much he mattered, but it wasn't her place and, truth be told, he was scaring her.

"i would say i'm sorry, but i'm not," her voice was defiant as his shoulders slumped in something akin to defeat.

"you're really not going to leave me alone, are you?" he huffed, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"let's put it this way. next time you want to jump off that ledge, you're just going to have to take me with you."

luke was silent for a moment, scrutinizing her with light amusement, though it was barely visible in his guarded expression. "i think you're insane."

"yeah, i'm starting to think so too," she shrugged and sat back on the ground, patting the space next to her.

he shook his head and sat beside her, breathing deeply as silence blanketed the air around them once more.

"what's your favorite color?"

"you're shitting me," luke rubbed his face with his hand tiredly.

"oh, come on. you're the one who said i don't know anything about you," she adjusted herself so she sat facing him, her legs crossed.

he mimicked her position begrudgingly and licked his lips. "black."

"what a surprise," she mocked with a tiny grin. "mr. dark and mysterious over here likes black."

"shut up," he fought back a smile at her teasing. "i bet your favorite color's like pink or something."

"god no," noelle's face scrunched up in disgust. "pink is too bright, even for me."

"hm? alright, then what is your favorite color?"

"white."

his eyes narrowed in confusion. "now you're just saying that because you don't want to admit you like pink."

she smacked his arm gently and shook her head with a short giggle. "no, i'm dead serious. i think white is one of the most beautiful colors ever. everyone thinks its unnecessary and no one really cares about it, but that's not true. without white, things would be incomplete."

she hesitated before adding something else, "like you, luke. you're like white. without you, i don't think the world would ever really be complete."

luke simply stared at her and noelle could swear she saw one of his walls crumble down. his eyes flashed with something incomprehensible, but she decided that it was good.

"blue," he stated quietly. "my actual favorite color is blue."

then noelle smiled with a small nod, telling luke that it was okay to open up, that she already accepted him for who he was.

"when i was younger, before all this shit went down, i used to watch the sunrise with my brother. it sounds kind of stupid, i know, but to me....it meant the world. seeing the sky change from purple to pink to blue, i immediately knew. that blue. it was my favorite color and it was even more special because i got to see it with my brother."

his eyes were watering and he was biting at his lip harshly, keeping in the soft sobs that threatened to spill from his throat. he barely noticed that noelle had intertwined her hands with his, stopping his hands from shaking. it wasn't until she squeezed his fingers that he lifted his eyes, seeing that she was still there.

"you're not going to leave?" he muttered brokenly.

"no," she shook her head and scooted closer to him, hands like an anchor - keeping him grounded. "i'm not going to leave you."

"thank you," he blinked and a tear fell from his eye. "i've never told anyone else that before."

"shhhh," she hushed him and wiped the tears that fell down his face, cupping his face with her gentle hands. "you're safe with me."

he nodded softly and got to his feet. she stood in front of him as he pulled her into him, his arms snaking around her waist like a vice. she melted into his embrace, feeling more safe with him than anyone else she'd ever encountered before.

"noelle, i think that you're my own personal white."

and deep down, she knew that he was hers, too.

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FEELINGS SO MANY FEELINGS. the white thing totally just popped into my mind and i awww'd so hard thinking about it. idk man it sounds biased but i ship these two super hard. noelle/luke (nukelle? someone help with this ship name lol) 4 lyfe. thank you for reading! please comment/vote if you enjoyed it :-)