Lost boy ♡ muke

september issue ✧ 3

Luke observed and quietly judged his brother's preference for breakfast as he took his sugar-free porridge off the stove.

"Why are you frowning?" Jack asked as he noticed his baby brother's facial expression.

Luke shrugged his shoulders and sat down next to him.

"Is there anything wrong in school? Are people giving you hard time since I graduated?"

Luke's sexual preferences and his oddness did not make him the most popular person at school that's for sure. But due to both of his older brother's being popular no one used to give a shit about Luke.

"Not really," Luke mumbled with his mouthful.

"Because if they do..."

"...I won't tell you. What will it look like?" Luke argued. "My big brother coming to save my reputation."

Jack sighed and pushed his empty bowl away. "Than what is it?"

The youngest Hemmings quickly went through the list of what was bothering him and asked the one question his brother could help with.

"What do you know about Michael Clifford?"

The question took Jack by surprise but after a couple of seconds, he started talking. "He was in my math class."

"But he's two years younger than you," Luke argued as he wasn't sure if they're talking about the same person.

"Yes, he is. But he's incredibly smart and talented at math. He skipped a lot of his classes or missed them I'm not sure but his test scores were always brilliant."

"Yeah, because he's in a gang," Luke argued. It's not that he didn't like Michael, he just really didn't want to like him.

"Luke Robert Hemmings." Luke dropped his spoon as his mother walked into the room. "When and why have you turned into a judgmental person?"

"I-I'm..."

"Oh no. You're not getting out of this. Just because his family is connected to illegal business that does not mean he is as well." Liz didn't look happy about his thinking.

He raised his hands in defeat. "Okay. But I have to work with him and I know nothing about him. I didn't even connect his last name to the car shop until I saw his jacket."

"Michael's father owns the car dealership and his uncle owns the auto repair shop. In the past, the repair shop was connected to some illegal business but now it's been united and I don't believe they had any problems since. The jacket represents the X-cars, not X the drug."

"Okay, thank you," Luke said in defeat. He now felt stupid for not knowing what was going on in his own city.

"And sweetie? If you don't know Michael, ask him things. Don't ask around. Especially not your brother who loves gossips a bit too much."

✧

Luke's head was in serious pain before he came to the headquarters of the newspaper but it was close to exploding when two people decided it was okay to come and start shouting at him and at each other for no apparent reason.

"Guys? Hey guys!" Luke shouted but it made no difference.

Claudia, the president of the Art club and the football captain Matt were there arguing.

"What's going on here?"

Luke saw Michael enter the small room making it even more crowded. What he absolutely hated was the fact that Michael didn't even speak that loudly but it made both Claudia and Matt shut up.

A few moments have passed before Luke realized Michael was looking at him for an explanation.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I'd love to know as well but they keep screaming."

"Okay." Michael moved past them and placed his bag on the table. "First off, you're not supposed to be in this room unless you're invited in. Second, one by one say what do you want from Luke or leave."

Michael's voice was calm but his presence seemed terrifying to both for some reason.

"The first number of the newspaper." Claudia started. "It covers a whole page more about sports than it does about art. And it's not the first time it had happened."

"Yes," Matt rolled his eyes. "Because there are more people interested in sports that they are in art. I don't mind us having more coverage but now people think I had someone in the team sleep with Luke to get the result."

"What?" Luke and Michael said at the same time.

Luke could see Michael wanted to say something but he stood up and placed his hand on Michael's chest to stop him.

"What both of you need to know is that I'm free to decide on the content that makes it into the newspaper. Meaning if you two don't show some respect to my work the next number will only cover the Chess club, which is, by the way, the most successful sports team in our school. I can fill five pages with art and sports-related content and I decide what gets more covered based on the time of the year."

At the beginning of the season, there are a lot of sports teams looking for new members so I gave them more space. When your exhibitions or plays will start I'll cover more of art. At the end of the year, the coverage on both art and sports evens out."

Both of them were looking at their shoes once Luke finished. "But since clearly neither of your activities have support for my newspaper I don't even know why I bother with being fair to everybody since your homophobic asses aren't fair to me."

When Michael spoke Luke didn't have the need to shush him.

"It's up on Luke but I'm pretty sure from now on both of you'll get two sites of coverage. The fifth will go to someone who deserves it. Now get out."

When they left Michael sat down like he did every day since he started helping Luke.

"Here," Michael opened his back and pushed Luke's favorite healthy nut bar towards him. "I brought you some snacks."

"Thank you." Luke managed to say.

"And don't worry about the missing page. Until you decide what we'll do for it I can make larger crosswords."

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T H O U G H T S ?

Luke asking about Michael?

Michael and Luke relationship at this point?

Love, Lucija ♡