Hold On To Me ☾cake au

7

Luke didn't know why he agreed to do it. Back at the pier, he had no idea what Calum was saying into the phone, or what sparked such confidence in Luke to sneak out again but he did. On the way, Calum told Luke the person he called was Ashton and Luke still doesn't know what he could of called Ashton for that could explain why he was sitting in a tattoo parlor with Calum at ten at night.

Luke's leg bounced and he bit the nail on his thumb as Calum calmly looked through the scrapbook of tattoos.

"You got any ideas?" Calum asked casually.

"Calum, we're only seventeen. Nobody's gonna tattoo us."

Calum closed the book, "I know. That's why I got Ash to ask his friend who works here if he could do it. Ash said he was cool with it."

Luke's eyes widened as he slouched down in his seat, rubbing his hand over his forehead.

Suddenly, a tall man covered in tattoos of various colors walked up to the boys. He had a tattooing needle hanging from a belt around his waist. "Can I help you boys?" He asked.

Luke was rather intimidated by the large man but of course, Calum being Calum, confidently stood up from his seat and replied, "we're here to see Tim," he said.

"I'm Tim," the man crossed his arms and Luke stood up. He was ready to run out of the place.

"We're friends of Ashton's- uh Irwin. He said you could tattoo us..." Calum trailed off.

"Oh! Are you Luke and Calum?" Tim asked, his chirpy tone now making Luke feel a little less horrified at the whole situation. Calum nodded at his question. "Right. Ash said you too would be coming by. So, what do you guys want done?"

Calum glanced at Luke then back at Tim, "can you give us a second?" Calum asked and Tim nodded in response before walking somewhere else.

Calum questioned Luke, "do you trust me?"

"It depends on what you want me to do," Luke replied.

"I know what we should get but I need you to say you trust me."

Luke thought about it for a second. He had no idea what tattoo Calum could possibly have in mind but Luke figured he had nothing to lose and agreed with a reluctant nod and a soft "I trust you." Calum smiled widely and pulled Luke into the room that was guarded with a dark red curtain.

"You ready?" Tim asked while attaching a new needle to some sort of tube.

"Yeah," Calum replied, "Luke's going first."

Luke gave Calum an expression as if to say "fuck you" as he climbed onto the reclining black seat.

Tim sat down in a chair beside Luke, facing him. "Okay, kid, what do you want?"

Luke looked to Calum who nodded and walked over to Tim. "Do you have a pen and paper?" Calum inquired before Tim pulled a notepad and pencil from under a table and handed it to Calum.

Calum ran the small pencil over the paper for a minute and handed it back to Tim who inspected it closely. "So he's getting both of these?" He asked Calum.

"No, just the first one."

Tim nodded and sketched some things on the paper and showed it to Calum, "that okay?" He asked Calum who nodded with a smile.

Tim turned to Luke who had a noticeably nervous expression on his face which Tim ignored. "Alright what you're getting is kinda small, so where do you want it?"

Luke looked to Calum once again, "well, Cal, you're already picking my first tattoo... where do I want it?"

"I was thinking right here," Calum pointed to his upper forearm. (a/n: you know where Calum's "skywards" tattoo is? Yeah, there.)

Calum took a seat on the opposite side of Luke from where Tim was sitting. Tim got to work on Luke's tattoo while Calum made sure Luke wouldn't look at his arm as it was getting done. Every time Luke would try to look down at the work being done on his skin, Calum just turned Luke's face to look at him.

Once Tim was done, he put a white gauze over Luke's newly inked tattoo and began to work on Calum's. The whole time, Calum would smack Luke's hand every few minutes when he would try to peek under the bandage.

The tattoos didn't take too long and before they knew it, Luke and Calum were standing at the desk while Calum was pulling crumpled up bills out of his pocket. "How much?" Calum asked.

Tim shook his head, "nah, don't worry about it, it's your first tattoo. It's on me."

Calum and Luke both smiled widely at that and thanked Tim before beginning their journey back home. The boys took a cab home which wasn't too expensive since the tattoo shop wasn't very far from the beach. Instead of going inside the house as soon as they arrived, both agreed to return to their spots at the end of the pier.

It was now almost two in the morning and Luke and Calum have been seated on the pier for a little over two hours now, talking about nothing. They rested, leaning against the wooden railing of the dock as Luke poked at the covered artwork on his arm. It didn't hurt as much as it did even an hour ago, but there was still an uncomfortable throbbing against Luke's skin.

"It's been two hours, we can take the bandages off now," Calum said happily as Luke hastily ripped the gauze off of his sensitive skin. He has been waiting literally hours to see was has been permanently marked onto his body and wasn't exactly worried about being careful.

The bandage was off and Luke examined his tattoo carefully. It was a planet. A simple planet that looked almost like a doodle that Luke would draw on the side of his homework. It had a thin ring around it so it was Saturn, maybe? Either way, Luke liked it. But he was still confused as too why Calum would want him to get a tattoo of a planet.

"I like it," Luke said, "but why a pla-" Luke looked up at Calum who had taken the bandage off, leaving his tattoo exposed.

Inked into the same spot on Calum's arm as Luke's, was a rocket ship in the same doodle-like design as the planet, except, unlike Luke's, it was on Calum's right arm instead of his left.

Luke looked at Calum with wonder and Calum just smiled. "Now if I do go to some fancy university after school, I won't forget you, even if I want to."

"But why a planet and a rocket?" Luke repeated his earlier question.

"Because now we can take each other wherever we go like how a rocket goes from planet to planet. Plus I thought it'd be kinda ironically funny since you think individual planets have no importance whatsoever in the universe," Calum laughed.

Luke looked from his tattoo to Calum's then brought the older boy into a tight hug which Calum gratefully returned.

"I really like the tattoos, Cal," Luke said into the hug.

"I knew you would."

The two boys pulled away from the hug and admired their tattoos for a while before deciding their butts couldn't take much more of sitting on the hard floor and went inside the beach house.

Calum cleverly shut off the alarm system before they left so they were able to walk right in. After changing, the two found comfort in Calum's room and wrapped themselves in the thick blankets of the bed. The bedroom was nearly pitch black but Luke could faintly make out Calum's features beside him on the bed as they laid on their sides, facing each other. Calum easily fell asleep as soon as his head met the pillow and Luke was slowly dozing off, too.

Careful not to wake the sleeping boy, Luke ever so gently trailed his index finger below Calum's ear, down his jaw line, and slowly ran it across his beautifully plump and soft bottom lip.

As he did this, Luke's eyes began to gradually fall closed until he felt an arm wrap around his waist and pull him into a warm body. Luke curled into Calum and drifted into a comfortable sleep.

-•-•-
I updated again since I haven't for two days :)

Happy New Year btw!

-Cee