Both Sides of the Story [cake au.]

six

a/n: this might be moving a lil fast but there's a lot I want to get to, ahahhaahhhhh

There really wasn't much to say about Calum's efforts to get to know Luke, other than the fact that they were more fruitless than anything else. Luke was still as shy as he'd always been, and the brunet just wanted to know why.

So, one day, he decided to take action. He was going to give Luke a reason to talk to him. He was going to use what he knew about Luke to get him talking.

When afternoon rolled around on that day, Calum put his plans into action. Casually, while talking to his students, he began rolling his sleeves up to just above his elbows, showing off the few tattoos he had on his left forearm. His students thought nothing of it, more interested in what he was saying rather than his actions. He decided he was going to make sure Luke noticed them. He knew it was a dumb plan, but hey, he was a bit desperate.

3:00pm came much quicker than expected, and as the bell rang, he opened the door, finding parents already waiting there. He started seeing off his students all while waiting for the blond.

Finally, Luke showed up, hair a bit dishevelled and out of breath.

"Hey, are you alright?" Calum asked, and he nodded, looking around the classroom for his daughter.

"I got a bit held up at work," he explained, and Cal nodded, gesturing to Charlotte - not for any other reason but to get Luke to notice his tattoos, of course.

He caught Luke's eyes traied on the ink, a curious expression on his face. "I like your tattoos."

"Thank you!" Calum beamed. "I've been looking to get more, but the place I got these done at closed down..."

"Oh." Luke looked surprised. "Yeah. My- Uh- My friend Mikey works at a tattoo parlour. You can drop by any time, really. W-They take drop-ins."

"Awesome!" Calum grinned, causing Luke to smile back, too. "Could you write down the name, and address if you know it?"

"I- Uh- I have a card?" Luke said, once again sounding unsure. He pulled one out of his back pocket, looking over it, but then shoved it back into his pocket. He then pulled another one out of his shirt pocket, and handed it to Calum, after making sure it was correct.

"Thanks!" Calum slid it into his own shirt pocket, smiling. He would check it out later.

"Let's go, Daddy," Charlotte whined, tugging at her father's jeans.

"Yes, we should get going," Luke agreed, smiling at Calum before the two of them bid him goodbye and left.

When all the other students had left, Calum sat down at his desk, examining the card. "Michael Clifford, tattoo artist, Rage and Love Tattoos," it read, along with an address.

Nodding a little to himself, Calum pocketed the card once again.

-------

The following weekend, at around 2 in the afternoon, Calum found himself at the door of the tattoo parlour. Taking a deep breath, he reached for the handle, noticing a rectangular sticker above it. It looked like those Pride stickers (hence the word PRIDE in bold, white letters across it) but it wasn't laid over rainbow colours; rather, it was over shades of grey, purple, and black. Calum shrugged, brushing it off as he pulled the door open, a little bell above it going off as he did so.

Inside, it looked like any other tattoo parlour: a black desk was in front of the back wall, beside a brown door. The door was ajar, a faint buzzing sound coming from inside. On the walls were tattoo ideas and designs, some of them framed. Calum had, obviously, looked up the store earlier, and had quite liked what he had seen. There were no names associated to the work, unfortunately, so he didn't know who to ask for.

"I'll be with you in a minute!" a voice called out from the inside, a bit muffled.

"Okay!" Calum called back, taking a seat on the leather (or were they pleather?) seats against the front window. He was just about to reach for the  art magazines on the coffee table in front of him when he heard footsteps and a familiar voice saying, "Hey m- Oh. Hi, Calum..."

Calum looked up, expecting to see the lilac haired man, but instead, he saw none other than Luke. "Hey, what are you doing here?" he asked curiously, standing up and walking over to where Luke was standing.

Luke had wide-framed glasses perched on his face, and a black fitted Green Day shirt clinging to his broad chest. He had a pen tucked behind his ear, and his tattoos were on full display, a sight Calum had been dying for a chance to see again.

"I-" he started, before sighing defeatedly. "I work here."

Calum frowned, stepping closer to the desk. "Why didn't you just tell me the other day?"

Luke bit at his lip ring. Calum had noticed the stud under his lip, but had never seen him wear a ring instead. Now, seeing it, he didn't ever want the blond to be without it. "Didn't want other parents to overhear me. I don't want to be the reason why parents stop their kids with associating with the girls. I mean, you must know the whole stereotype that comes with being tattooed. It's, like, ten times worse when you're actually a tattoo artist."

Calum couldn't help but crack a smile. "That's really sweet of you, actually."

Luke laughed, running a hand through his hair. "I guess so. It just wouldn't be fair on them if I was the reason they don't make friends or something."

"I'm sure no one cares as much as you think." I smiled, leaning forward and resting my elbows on the desk. "Plus, they look good on you."

Luke smiled bashfully. "Thanks."

"Yeah, of course. Where- Where are your girls, anyways?" Calum asked out of curiosity.

"They're at their mum's for the weekend. She's doing some- some camping trip with her new boyfriend," Luke explained, and Calum didn't hear remorse or jealousy in Luke's voice. He did detect a bit of sadness, however, which he passed off as a given. "She wanted them to get to know him."

Calum nodded, about to say something else when he noticed that Luke, too, looked as though he wanted to say something more. So he kept quiet and waited a beat.

"Do you have any kids?" Luke asked, and Calum would've laughed if the blond didn't seem so genuinely interested. 

"Oh, no." Calum shook his head, trying to keep his amused smile at bay. "Never really gotten to that point in a relationship."

Luke furrowed his eyebrows. "Never really gotten to what point?" he asked, emphasis on the 'what'.

"I mean, like, I've never been that settled with anyone to even think about things like marriage, or kids," Calum explained, wondering what else Luke could've thought of.

"So you're not seeing anyone right now?"

"No." A cheeky smile tugged at Calum's lips as he continued, "Unless, you know, I'm se- No, wait, never mind."

It was Luke's turn to smile amusedly. He leaned forward as well, quirking an eyebrow up. "Unless what?"

"Don't fucking laugh or anything but I was gonna say, not unless I'm seeing you tonight."

At that, Luke laughed, moving away from Calum. "It's probably not the best idea, but... Sure."

"Really?" Calum had no idea how he had managed to come this far so quickly. Maybe Luke was as interested as Calum was?

Luke hummed in response, nodding. "But for now, didn't you want to get a tattoo done?"

"Oh, uh, yeah." He pulled out the design from his back pocket and handed the paper to Luke, watching as his intense blue eyes scanned over the paper carefully. And Calum was the one who was getting to take him out tonight?! Damn, Calum had sure gotten lucky.