Fall for You | OT4

ninety two

there's a special surprise towards the end-ish of this chapter ;)

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it was agreed that luke would stay the night at the penthouse. the band hoped that luke would find a strong liking to the place and they could ask him to move in sometime later. the penthouse had five bedrooms and four bathrooms. while most of the time they would sleep in the same bed together, it was nice to have their own room and bed for a night or two.

they didn't want to overwhelm luke and offered that he sleep in the fourth bedroom. the fifth bedroom is saved as a music room but is filled with empty boxes and crates at the moment. they hope to finish it soon so that they can practice music and maybe produce music just from the room. while they loved going to the studio, it painfully reminded them that they would be touring at the beginning of next year.

that was why they asked luke to come over. the new album was ready and set for a release date. following that, comes a tour. touring means leaving, it means leaving luke for several months. they had tried everything in their power to convince their manager to let luke come along, but the answer is a firm 'no'.

they all sat at the dinner table quietly, eating the stir fry michael had made. even though they somewhat made up, there was still an awkward silence. a tension that would take a while to remove. calum broke the silence and cleared his throat. "we uh, finished the album." he starts. luke only nods, but on the inside, he's freaking out. after all, this is still his favorite band. hearing that new music would be out soon still made luke's fanboy heart flutter.

ashton looked over at calum in worry. was he about to tell luke about their situation? after luke had just finally warmed back up to all of them? he gave him the 'what are you doing' look, but calum ignored it. the longer they wait, the harder it will be to tell luke.

"as promised, we want you to listen to it first. once it gets sent to us, that is." calum pauses, the feeling of guilt overwhelming him. luke was confused. this was supposed to be exciting. why did everyone else look so upset? "basically, that means we'll be touring soon." calum pauses again, but michael finished for him. "and we tried to do everything to allow you to go with us, but it was shot down."

"oh." was all luke could say. he didn't expect to go on tour with them. hell, that's something he would dream about at night. but in reality, luke knew that would never happen. touring isn't as easy as it looks. there are hundreds of people traveling, setting up the stage, taking everything down, packing it all backup. there's only so much room for such a large amount of people.

"i didn't expect to ever go on tour with you guys in the first place. so, i kind of prepared myself for that." luke admits, but he smiles sadly. "but that also means you'll be leaving me."

it's silent once more, this time filled with guilt and sadness. they just got luke back and now they're supposed to leave him behind for months. they wanted to spend christmas with him. they wanted to take luke to see a white christmas for the first time. they wanted to travel the world with luke, see the pure joy on his face when he sees a stuffy that says 'new york' on its scarf.

they wanted to give luke roses and a promise ring in paris. the ring was stuffed in a drawer, ready to be opened and worn. it was cheesy, but that is how they are. they are in a love-filled cheesy, cliché relationship.

"we can work something out. we'll be in new york for mikey's birthday. we can fly you out and we can all be together. then we'll be in LA for christmas and we can do the same." calum suggests.

luke sighs. he didn't like flying, but if he wanted to see his boyfriends during these special holidays, he had no choice. though this does give them the practice of learning to not be around each other 24/7. when it comes to relationships, it's good to have space. this also prepares them for future tours. while it sucked, it also came with an opportunity to strengthen their relationship.