faerie • muke [v slow updates]

7°

on hour nine of driving, it's close to midnight, and the only stops the hemmings family have taken are to go to the washroom or to let luke and liz alternate driving. they've used four different drive-thru windows to buy dinner and other food, which was nice at first but got old by the third time. josephine fell asleep in her car seat hours ago, the pink blanket luke remembered to bring draped over her.

liz pulled into a motel parking lot outside quebec city, one she'd called a few hours ago while luke was driving. they all needed to sleep in beds, especially luke and liz, and it was obvious how tired they both were. luke climbs out of the car, shedding the blanket on his lap, and goes to get suitcases out of the trunk. he wishes they'd had time to make a backpack with a pair of pyjamas and a change of clothes each so that they didn't have to fully unload the car, but it wasn't realistic. he meets liz at the front of the car, him trying to juggle three suitcases and her with jo still half-asleep on her hip.

the family walks into the hotel, and are greeted "bonjour, hello!" by a receptionist. luke wonders how she's still so happy, but really only cares about falling into bed. they're quickly checked in, and liz is able to get the motel to give them a free crib for the night. jo's technically too old and never sleeps in a crib anymore, but if they pull down the sides then it allows all three of them to sleep in their own beds.

despite pulling into the parking lot a little before 11:30 pm, all three hemmings are asleep before one in the morning.

the next morning, liz wakes both of her children up at 8:30. "we need to keep going, you can sleep again in the car," she says, lightly shaking luke.

the lilac-haired boy and his younger sister both sluggishly get ready, and luke wakes up enough while they pack up and leave the room to take the first driving shift of the morning. he only has his g2, and because he's only 17 he technically can't drive with two passengers, but his mom trusts luke behind the wheel.

the family pulls out of the motel parking lot just after nine in the morning, and luke uses a mcdonald's drive though to get breakfast. jo is beyond bored and worn out from the car ride so far, and she isn't even excited about getting food from a restaurant anymore. however, she does love her breakfast happy meal, and the toy gives her something new to do.

luke gets back on the main highway heading east and stops only once for a bathroom break and to refill gas. they make good time, and liz insists she drive the last stretch. luke complies, and they switch just before crossing into new brunswick and the atlantic time zone.

it's the last stetch of the trip, and luke decides to take his phone off of airplane mode. he has canada-wide talk and text on his phone plan, so it won't be an issue using it- he just didn't want to deal with michael. luke taps the airplane icon, and within minutes his phone is flooded. he has missed call after missed call, multiple voicemails, and countless texts.

luke isn't surprised. michael's only soft for him, and so he can be a little too soft because he has nobody else to be less than an angry, pissed off hardass with. luke plugs in his headphones and decides to start by listening to the voicemails.

"hey luke, it's michael. i've already texted you a few times but you haven't replied, so i just wanted to see what's up. how's your dad? where did you even end up going? sorry, i'm probably bothering you when you want to be with your family. talk to you soon babe."

delete.

"i know i should stop calling you, but i'm just worried. luke, you can text me a heart emoji and it'll be fine, just something so i know you're alright. okay, why am i like this?"

delete.

"okay, i'm putting my phone away for bed after this. i'll try to to call you again. luke, all i want is to know you're safe. let me know, baby. goodnig- it's five in the morning and i haven't slept yet. do i still say goodnight? who knows. bye luke."

delete.

"luke, i don't bore you with details, but when my parents finally got home they weren't too pleased with me. this is the first time in so long that they've done things to me and i couldn't see you. sorry, that was dumb. god, do you even care about that? never mind, ignore this. call me soon."

delete.

luke sighs and opens the texts. they're all variations of "i hope you're safe, call or text me," and it makes luke's heart hurt. he loves michael, and hates having to keep such a big part of his life from him. reluctantly, luke sends a simple text reply, knowing he'll have to come up with a better lie for later.

sms from luke: i'm safe michael, i'll call you later. 💞

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a/n: yikes luke