Lost in Japan // lh+sm

chapter three

Luke woke up with a pounding headache, but he couldn't tell if it was from falling asleep upside down on someone's leather couch or from drinking his weights worth in liquor they spent a little over a fortune on. His muscles were stiff, his lips dry, and his stomach was covered in chips? And who's hand was that on top of his -

He groaned as he sat up and then looked around the room, rubbing his eyes as he realized that the hotel staff is gonna hate them when Jack asks for their room to be cleaned. He stood up and then looked around him. It was Kaitlin's hand that was on his body, and she was halfway off the couch snoring like everybody else.

What time was it?

He reached for his phone and then stumbled around the room while trying to turn it on. If he could just push the fucking button hard enough.

'6:48am' the screen read and he stared for a moment.

What the fuck was he doing up so early?

He grabbed his leather jacket and then left the room, deciding he didn't want to be there when everyone else woke up with hangovers and regrets. He had enough of those for the whole room, he didn't need anymore.

He slid his key in the door and then opened it, peering into the cold room. It was huge, and it made him sigh when he realized he had all this space to himself. Sure he had his friends, but he didn't want to share with any of them. He didn't like them enough to want to be stuck in this room with them again.

He sat down on the couch and then sighed as he looked out over the city. Tokyo was truly a beautiful city, and he couldn't wait to go exploring later on when his friends were awake. He only needs one or two, maybe Michael and Crystal, or even Sahara and Ashton. Maybe even just Calum. He just needs someone to make sure he doesn't accidentally get himself in trouble.

He looked down at his phone as it lit up with a notification, finding at it was one of his friends asking if he got drunk last night with an attached photo. He unlocked the device before opening the message, laughing to himself. He's glad everything he says is taken as a joke, now no one can tell he actually means it when he says he would date this guy or that dude.

He explained what happened to him before logging into his account to see how his fans were reacting. He liked to see how big of a deal they made silly tweets and the kinds of memes they would post with it. They were quite creative, and because of his messy tweets and very obviously drunk replies to people, he hoped they were more inspired than ever.

He laughed at the memes they made, chuckled and liked a few tweets where they called him out on being stupid when he had too much drink in his veins. They never failed to voice their opinion or think before they uploaded a self-esteem crushing meme.

Somewhere along scrolling through his timeline and indirects, he came across a screenshot of Shawn Mendes' account. He replied to his tweet, and his laughter died.

Really?

He searched his account and then looked through his tweets, finding that he was playing a show in Manila tonight and was debating on flying to Japan. He said he's never been there, and he also tweeted Luke the laughing and heart emojis with 'text me back first LOL' attached in response to his tweet.

Didn't he have Shawn's number from when they met before?

He left the app and then went through his crowded messages, scrolling and scrolling through all his recents. Contact after contact he read, but none was anything stupidly Canadian or none were his name.

His name wasn't spelled Sean, right?

Just when he was about to give up, he scrolled one last time to the next few names, finding that he did indeed text him. Luke grinned and then replied, apologizing for not texting him last night due to his drunken escapades. He doesn't know when he's going to reply, so he shuts his phone off and then taps his fingers on the back of his black case.

Is Shawn even gay? Is he a closeted celebrity too? Not that Luke thinks he's a celebrity. Only certain people knew who he was, to everyone else he was a giant question mark, but everyone knew who Shawn was. But was he into guys?

Shit, was Luke over thinking this? 

He looked back over the city, finding the sun has risen higher and cotton candy colors swirled in the sky. It was beautiful. He was glad he could wake up to it for however long they planned on staying there. He hopes it would be long enough to make him realize that he didn't need his ex to feel alive and give him a rush. Maybe all he needed was a pretty place, some friends, and possibly some better food (LA styled Japanese food wasn't very good compared to food that's actually from Japan).

He swallowed thickly as he saw his phone screen light up, and he smiled to himself when he saw it was from the person he actually wanted to talk to. He picked it up and then opened the chat.

'Heard you're in Japan?'

He confirmed his statement. Only seconds later did the message bubble appear on the opposite end of his screen. He must have been waiting for him to text back too.

'I'm online looking for a flight ticket, but where? Any thoughts?'

Luke bit the inside of his cheek before chuckling to himself as he typed on the screen. 'Come to Japan. Where's the harm?'

He shit his phone off and then placed the corner on his bottom lip before sinking back into his couch. What was going to happen if he actually came here? What would it mean?