Maddie opens their front door to a cartoon doll being held up by a hand and arm encased in black leather and she mentally braces herself.
"I got something for Gus," announces Michael from behind the door.
"Oh, that's so sweet," Maddie chuckles caustically, taking the doll from him to look at it. "We'll call Calum later to thank him," she calls behind her as she walks off, still looking at the doll, leaving a busted Michael to make his way into the house on his own.
"How long have you been drawing?" Geordie asks Luke, peering over to see what he's been doing. She's fed Gus the entire time that he's been sketching them.
"My mum brought me crayons whilst I was still in a cot, I've never stopped." Luke's face lights up when he sees Michael follow Maddie into the living room.
"What's he doing here?" Michael asks, his eyebrows puckering as he frowns at Luke leaning on the coffee table where he's been drawing. Shit, he's just as cute as he was the first time he saw him a few weeks ago.
"We ran into each other in the street." Maddie tells him, stooping to pick Gus up out of Geordie's arms now that he's stopped feeding.
"It was like this weird co-incidence." Luke explains, grinning at him, eyes twinkling.
"I bet," Michael says dryly, a little distracted as he watches, hoping to get a hold or at least a look at his son, as Maddie bustles by with Gus in her arms, taking him off into the kitchen with her. Instead he's left standing awkwardly in the living room whilst Luke looks like he's lived here his entire life, he's that comfortable.
"You know, these are good..." Geordie notes appreciatively, opening the pages of Luke's sketch pad carefully, looking at each one in detail before moving onto the next.
"That's what my Mum says," Luke says in a bored tone. His Mum has said that for years now and each time it means a little less.
"Geordie's an art teacher," Maddie calls from the kitchen, making Luke instantly appreciate her opinion much more than he did previously.
"For someone your age you have an amazing feel for the human form," she comments.
"I've noticed that myself," Michael comments, leering at him before throwing one of Gus' soft toys at Luke's head as he listens with some interest to Geordie's opinion.
"Look at this!"
"Oh, don't show him!" Luke says quickly, seeing which page Geordie's just turned to.
"Mmmmhmmm" she murmers, showing the page to Michael and winking at Luke. The pencil drawing is unmistakably of Michael, asleep and naked in bed in his loft.
Michael takes one look at it and turns his head to look at Luke, "When did you draw that?" he demands, flattered by the image but not showing it.
"Whilst you were asleep," Luke says, his mouth twitching and turning up at the corners when he sees Michael's reaction. It's the only sketch he's managed to complete since Michael told him to leave his apartment.
"Circumcised! Just like I thought!" comments Maddie, looking at the picture as she walks back in with Gus, after all the shit that Michael had caused at the Bris.
"You know, there's going to be an art show at the GLC..." muses Geordie out loud.
"What's that?" asks Luke.
"The Gay and Lesbian Centre. A safe haven for fags who can't get laid," provides Michael.
"You know, it would be good to get out and meet some nice, young men for a change," suggests Maddie, looking at Michael whilst putting an emphasis on the young part of her sentence. The implication isn't lost on him as he sends her a dirty look from his corner of the room.
YOU ARE READING
Queer as Muke
Fanfiction"The thing you need to know is, it's all about sex. It's true. In fact they say men think about sex every twenty-eight seconds. Of course that's straight men. With gay men it's every nine." Twenty nine year old advertising executive Michael Cliffor...
