fatherhood // lashton

22

"This is awesome" Calum spoke in awe as he walked around the new apartment while letting his eyes roam every wall in the new home. Michael walked beside him and nodded his head in agreement while keeping a wide grin on his face.

"It's pretty nice, isn't it?" Luke asked and smiled contently as he looked around his new place. His, Ashton's and the kids' new place.

Their old apartments were sold and all the stuff had been moved into the new apartment yesterday, making the last couple of days extremely stressful. But worth it.

"Well, yeah," Michael spoke and ran a hand over the kitchen counter, "How'd you afford this now again?"

Luke chuckled and sat down on one of the bar stools around the kitchen island and spun around to face his friends, "There's two people living in this apartment who have pretty decent incomes"

"Yeah, well keep rubbing that fact in my face, asshole" Michael muttered, making both Luke and Calum laugh.

"That reminds me," Luke spoke and averted his eyes to Calum, "When do you get to start working?"

Calum scratched his jaw and sighed as he was thinking, "I'm going back to the school in two weeks, and I'm taking the final exam in about 6 or 7 months. If I pass that, I can start working as a real and fully educated policeman" he grinned.

"7 months? That's so long. You'll get a few breaks between that, right?" Luke asked and frowned.

"You haven't told him?" Michael asked and looked at Calum with furrowed eyebrows while Calum was grinning widely.

"Told me what?" Luke asked and glanced between his two best friends with a confused look on his face.

Calum smiled big and walked over to Luke, placing his hands on his shoulders and shook the blonde slightly, "I finally got a spot in the school here in Chicago. Took me almost two years, but I'm moving back, and I'm gonna keep living with Michael so it will be just like before"

Luke's eyes widened before he smiled big and tugged his friend into a tight hug, "Finally! God, it sucked having you gone for so long"

"I know, it sucked for me too" Calum said and pulled away from the hug to ruffle Luke's hair, but the blonde didn't mind at this moment.

"The kids will be so happy when they hear about this" Luke spoke and Calum grinned happily.

"Sometimes it just hits me that I'm so fucking behind you guys," Michael spoke up as he sat on the kitchen counter, "Luke, you just bought a home with your, and I quote; 'love of your life', so you can raise you children together. And Calum, you soon have a full education and will get a job right away"

Michael jumped down from the counter and walked over to his friends, leaning forward to grumpily lean his elbows against the kitchen island, "I'm nothing. I don't have a relationship, I don't have a kid, I don't an education, and I barely have a job. I'm so the third wheel in this friendship"

Calum rolled his eyes and chuckled as he looked at Michael with an amused expression, "That's not true"

"Yes it is, and you know it" Michael mumbled.

"So what if it is?" Luke asked and turned to look at Michael, "You have fun, that's all you're about. You're like the most comfortable person ever, you don't worry, that's not your thing"

"What is my thing then?" Michael mumbled.

"You have a lot of things, but you don't need to decide which one you want to dig deeper into yet. You're only 21 years old, you have years to figure out what to do" Luke said and Michael mumbled out a small 'thanks mom', causing Luke to roll his eyes.