Both Sides of the Story [cake au.]

ten

Calum didn't realise that spending an evening at one of his students' house would have such consequences.

Not bad ones, obviously, as he wasn't there to see the student in question. If that was the case, it would be quite alarming.

No, the consequences were rather comedic ones. He had come to realise that little Charlotte had quite a big mouth and liked telling all her classmates about the fact that her teacher came to her house and watched movies with her and her sister.

"I swear it's true!" she would exclaim when her friends wouldn't believe her. "Ask him!"

And of course, the kids would all get distracted, and Calum would have to get them back on task while skirting around the topic of being at Charlotte's house.

As for consequences outside of the classroom, oh, they were all good. Luke would always smile widely at him when coming to pick up his daughter, and discreetly squeeze his hand on days he felt confident enough to do so.

And on some days, like today, he would stop by the tattoo parlour to say hi to Luke before heading home.

The bell chimed as he pushed the door open, and he was greeted by Luke's daughters rushing towards him.

"Calum!" they both exclaimed, dragging him to where they were sitting and drawing at the coffee table while Mikey emerged from the back to see who had come.

"You again," Mikey chuckled, rolling his eyes comically at Calum.

"Yes, it's me," Calum answered. "Is Luke busy?"

Mikey nodded. "Working on a big back piece. It might take a while..."

Calum shrugged. "That's fine, I'll be here, if you guys don't mind."

"That's cool."

And with that, Mikey headed back inside while Calum took the crayon Shael was extending towards him, and began colouring in the things she asked him to.

However, after about an hour of switching between colour books, the two of them had started getting restless. Luke had checked in with them once, halfway through the hour, but he had said he would be pretty busy.

So, Calum decided to take matters into his own hands.

Walking over to the back, Calum knocked on the open door as he stood under the doorway.

"What's up?" Mikey called, coming out from one of the inner rooms.

"I'm going to take the girls to the park," he explained. "They won't sit still, and since Luke's gonna be busy for a while, I might as well take them out."

Mikey chuckled. "Do you seriously not have kids of your own?"

"Nope, but I've had many dogs and many years of experience with kids their age." Calum shrugged, smiling amusedly. "Let him know, yeah? We won't be too long."

"Will do." Mikey nodded.

So, with that done, Calum turned back to the girls. "Do you wanna go to the park?"

Immediately, they jumped up. "Yes!" they exclaimed, and he was practically pulled out of the door by the two of them.

There was a park a couple blocks from the tattoo parlour, so it wasn't like he was running off with Luke's kids. He just figured Luke would be tired after today, and maybe Calum could do something to help him out.

Once there, Calum pushed the gate open and the two of them ran in, heading immediately for the swings.

"Calum! Can you push me?" Shael asked, swinging her legs around.

"Of course." He smiled, standing beside her and taking ahold of the sides of the seat. Pulling her back just a bit, he let her go, and she squealed in delight. He kept swinging her while Charlotte, on the swing beside them, twisted the chains so that it would make her spin in a circle.

"Be careful, don't get too dizzy!" he warned her as he continued to push her sister on the swings.

They spent close to an hour swinging, chasing each other along the big playground set made to look like a castle, and climbing along the monkey bars. Calum didn't think much of it as he played with the two of them as if they were his students, or even his own kids.

After a while, he couldn't keep up, so he stood against the fence as he watched them two play with some other kids on the playground.

Not a moment later, someone slid an arm around his waist, drawing him closer to them. He was confused for a moment before turning to see none other than Luke standing beside him, a wide smile on his face.

"Oh, hey." He smiled back at the blond.

"Hi," Luke answered, but before Calum could get another word in, Luke was hugging him tightly.

As he wrapped his arms around Luke, he heard the blond man sigh softly, and silently wondered where the sign gesture of affection came from. He welcomed it, of course, and it wasn't unlike Luke to be affectionate, but this was out of the blue.

"Are you finally done?" he asked softly, and when Luke nodded, he smiled, making sure to keep an eye on the girls.

"Thanks for bringing them here," Luke murmured as he pulled away, keeping his arms around Calum.

"Of course," Calum answered, smiling at Luke. He brushed a stray strand of hair off his forehead before leaning in and kissing the tip of his nose.

Luke tilted his head up, pressing a short kiss to Calum's lips before turning his attention to where his girls were still playing, unaware of his arrival. Calum wrapped an arm around his waist and held him close, loving the feeling of holding the blond in his arms. All he wanted to do now was to make whatever they had official.