Cupcake: The Rough Draft [MUKE]

24 | michael

edited 01.16.18

m i c h a e l

The day that Michael walked out of his secondary school's front doors was the day he promised he would never come back, but then again, Michael never anticipated the arrival of Luke Hemmings in his life and let's just say Luke is changing Michael's ways one empty promise at a time. Which brings us to where we are right now with an anxious-looking and out of place Michael Gordon Clifford holding a paper bag with the finely lined word (thanks to Delilah) cupcake scribbled in marker on it.

He scratched the back of his neck with shaky fingertips and nails that were well over-due for a trim while his eyes held an expectant look in them. He half expected Niall Horan to come bellowing out, leaving the entire graduating class of '16 with him just as he had done on that last day of school. Michae hadn't gone to school that entire week but waited outside the building when school ended just to share that moment with his friends.

There was movement from the other side of the glass door and Michael perked up, only for disappointment to drag his shoulders down when just a short girl walked out instead of Luke.

"Hey."

Michael jumped and whipped his head to the right, gazing at a sweet looking Luke with wide eyes.

"Oh my god," Michael sighed. He placed a hand over his heart before Luke moved forward and into a hug. The smaller of the two snuggled into Michael's chest, a smile growing on his glossed lips when he heard Michael's heartbeat start to race.

"Nope," Luke chuckled warmly, "just Luke."

The two pulled away from the hug and Michael handed Luke the lunch bag sheepishly.

"I promised you lunch." Luke hesitantly grasped the bag and sent Michael a bright, plump-lipped smile; probably the sweetest that he could muster up because it made Michael's heart sing in ways that would sound silly if he tried it out loud.

"But you didn't promise me lunch?" Luke stated but it sounded more like a question when it came out. Michael felt himself start to sweat a little, tugging off his aviator sunglasses in a quick flourish.

"I realize that now," Michael spurted suddenly, "I promised you in my head but not actually out loud. Yikes. I'm sorry about that, cupcake. I'll take it back-"

"No, no, no, no." Luke pulled away from Michael's reaching arm and shielded the brown lunch bag. Michael's eyebrows furrowed in slight confusion but relaxed when peeked into the bag and reached in. "I guess I'm eating your car keys for lunch."

"You see," Michael chuckled, "I was going to make you this super healthy lunch but then I realized I can't cook, so I asked for some help."

"But what do the keys have anything to do with cooking? Whoever helped you cook this key set must honestly suck too," Luke made a face. Michael laughed at his boy and pinched his cheek.

"Innocent and adorable. I snatched a keeper." Michael pushed the keys in Luke's hand again. "You get to drive."

"Where?" Luke stood where he was as Michael opened the passenger seat for himself.

"Follow the GPS." Michael's smile was something a mixture of dangerous and sweet, and it inticed Luke in a way that sent a pit of warmness to his stomach. Michael knew what he was doing, the effect of his smile on the smaller boy, and he knew it was working. Nobody resisted a smile like Michael's own. Not by the long shot. It was a smile that was hit or miss - and it never missed.

Twenty minutes later, the boys were lost. Apparently, Luke had taken a few wrong turns and they ended up on a deserted road with absolutely no cell service or food.

And Luke was hungry.

"Relax cupcake." Michael let out a nonchalant laugh. He honestly doesn't know why he wasn't freaking out. The GPS died a little while ago and he didn't have any spare batteries. They didn't have any cell service. Or food. "Would you like me to drive?"

He really didn't want to, but the look on Luke's face made Michael a little worried. The boy's small hands were gripped tightly around the steering wheel and his eyes focused on the road.

Michael reached over and pried one of Luke's hands from the steering wheel to hold it, maybe help release the tension a little.

"No, I'm fine." Luke released a breath and Michael smiled a little bit when he saw Luke's shoulder slouch in the seat. "I'm sorry I messed lunch up."

"I'm sorry I didn't think about how horrible you are at following directions," Michael teased. Luke glanced briefly at Michael and rolled his eyes.

"She said to make a right turn in 500 feet," Luke defended weakly.

"Do you not know your right from your left or something? You took a left."

Luke blushed heavily again. Michael noticed that he had made Luke a little uncomfortable with his teasing and brought Luke's hand up to his face, pressing a small kiss on the back of his hand.

"Don't worry, princess. You didn't ruin anything. I know exactly where we are."

"You do?" Luke gasped.

"Yeah?" Michael said more like a question. "Is that a problem?"

"Why didn't you say anything?!" Luke sat up in his seat. "I feel like I've been going in circles this entire time. I've seen that tree eight times."

"Babe," Michael laughed, "they're trees. We're on the highway about ten minutes from the next town over. Why don't you pull over to the side of the road and let me drive?"

!•!•!•!

Michael had started seeing Luke in a different light that afternoon.

He didn't see the boy as some kind of dorky kid with a lopsided smile or a clumsy teen with hair that added about three inches to his over all height. Michael saw the shy blue eyed boy who had a fear of overstepping his boundaries and often bit his tongue to hold in a comment.

Michael saw a strong person behind that goofy exterior that drove him absolutely crazy (Delilah called it "heart eyes"). Michael felt a bigger attraction to Luke when he'd try to problem solve, sticking his tongue out of the right side of his mouth and his eyes wander.

Michael felt his heart just about burst from his chest when Luke almost shot out of the driver seat with excitement when he realized where they were, gripping onto Michael's arm that wasn't on the steering wheel.

"Michael, oh my god..." Luke's pink lips were upturned in a large smile and Michael almost lost his breath when Luke's head tipped forward. "This is so cool. How did you know?"

"I told you," Michael smirked pleasantly, "I had a little help."

+

I keep getting this one mixed up with The Punk and The Prude guys go read that if you haven't yet

-riceball