Worship in the Bedroom [Cake]

10

Calum frowns at Luke's shaking fingers when he reaches forward. "You don't have to do this, Luke."

"I know," Luke reaches again, so Calum reluctantly hands him the blunt. "Just want to."

They're in Calum's bedroom, sitting cross legged across from each other on the bed, while Luke lights up his first blunt. Ashton had easily dug around until he could get Luke some weed the second the younger boy had mentioned wanting to try it. Smoking, apparently, is part of his rebellion. Michael and Ashton are off doing the grocery shopping (meaning they're arguing in the grocery store because Calum hadn't made them a specific list and they can never agree on anything), so Calum figures he and Luke have a while.

Luke stares at the brown rolling paper pinched between his first finger and thumb with a considering look, before finally glancing up at Calum with his big, blue, doe eyes. "Now what?"

"Here," Calum reaches over and gestures until Luke places one end in his mouth. Pulling out his lighter, Calum smiles reassuringly at Luke, then lights the other end for him. Luke's lips clamp shut and Calum giggles. "No, Lukey, baby, you have to open your mouth and inhale a little, okay?"

Luke follows directions surprisingly well and only coughs and sputters a few times. They pass the blunt between them until there's next to nothing left and Luke's eyes are red and lidded.

"I'm-" Luke cuts off and looks at Calum lazily. "I don't know, but I am. I'm. I'm just I'm."

Calum smiles at him. "Alright, Luke."

"I feel like I'm not making any change," Luke pauses while his brain catches up, but Calum just waits for him patiently with an easy smile on his face. Eventually, Luke shakes his head and mumbles, "I mean sense."

Calum snorts in amusement while he leans back, hands braced on the bed behind him, with his legs still crossed in front of him. Luke slumps forward and places his elbow on his knee, chin in his hand. Closing his eyes, Calum tilts his head back and sighs contentedly. He's not high, not really, he'd only had a few puffs of the blunt so luke could properly savor his own high. Calum's just content to be here, alone, with Luke.

Luke, apparently, is thinking of other things. He sighs a few times and then asks, "Do you believe in God, Calum Hood?"

Calum opens one eye and peers at Luke's serious expression before closing it again. "I don't think so, Luke. Seems far fetched."

Luke's quiet at the for a while, but Calum can feel him moving and hear him touching things on the bedside table. He turns the light on and off three times before speaking again. "What do you believe in, Calum Hood?"

"What, Christianity-wise?" Calum peels his eye open again to see Luke nod. "I don't know. I guess I can believe there was someone named Jesus on Earth, and I can believe he was maybe a magician or something, but I don't think he was the son of God. Maybe a con artist. And I guess I believe in heaven because- I don't know, it just sounds nice. And there has to be something after death, that's a whole lot of nothing, otherwise." 

He falls back and shifts around until he's laying on the bed with his head against the pillows. Almost instantly, Luke lunges over and falls against him, pushing up under his arm so he can rest his cheek against Calum's chest. He shoves his hand up the hem of Calum's shirt too, and starts rubbing across his stomach and ribs in the most uncoordinated and clumsy way possible.

"What do you think heaven's like?" Luke asks softly.

Calum let's out a soft puff of breath and tilts his head further back against the pillows. "I think- I think it's nice. I don't know, my mum always told me people show up in heaven as their souls. I think- I think that's true, I guess, you show up how you want to look, not how you do when you die. You know? You show up how you looked when you were your happiest."

"How would you show up?" Luke asks. His fingers tighten and stiffen over Calum's ribs like he's trying to scratch the skin there, but Calum doesn't even flinch. "If you died today, I mean."

"I think," Calum pauses and glances down at Luke, swiping his tongue over his bottom lip smoothly. He can only see the top of Luke's head from the angle, but it's fine. "I think I'd look the same way I did when you first kissed me."

Luke's fingers still and he glances up with a big dopey smiley on his face that makes Calum laugh. He brushes the hair off Luke's forehead when the blonde rearranges himself so he can look up at Calum thoughtfully, probably waiting for Calum to inflate his ego some more.

"And I think," Calum continues. "I think you spend eternity in heaven doing things that make you happy. I'll spend forever with you, because you make me happy."

Luke blushes furiously and clambers up until he can press his mouth against Calum's. Calum smiles at him and wraps his hands around Luke's waist to gently tug him into his lap.

By the time Michael and Ashton get home, Luke's all but kissed his high away and seems content to just be leaving small, open mouthed kisses to Calum's bottom lip. He jumps off the bed as soon as he hears voices in the other room, and quickly hops towards the door, happier than Calum's ever seen him.

"Food!" He shouts excitedly, throwing the door open. Calum snorts in amusement, but follows him out, anyway. Luke's digging through the paper grocery bags on the table when Calum catches up to him in the kitchen, shuffling things around and looking for something he wants to eat.

Ashton's got his head buried in the fridge and Michael's leaning against the counter, watching Luke with a raised eyebrow. Calum has to agree, Luke's pretty quiet and careful around them, he's never this confident when Michael and Ashton are involved.

"Hey!" Ashton shouts when he notices Luke. "Stop it, get the hell out of here!" He grabs the nearest dish towel and whacks Luke upside the head with it, forcing a squawk of surprise from the younger boy. Luke glances up with a somewhat devious look in his eye, before snatching a box of something from the bag next to him and bolting from the room.

"Luke, I swear to fucking- bring that back here!" Ashton demands. The house is silent, so Calum figures Luke's taken refuge in his bed.

Michael watches Ashton huff (like loosing one box of crackers is the worst thing that could possibly happen to him) for a few seconds before grinning. "I don't know if I've said this before, but I like Luke."

"No!" Ashton scowls at him. "No, you don't, you like me!"

"No, I like Luke," Michael nods, probably because he knows it'll piss Ashton off. It does, because the blonde physically launches himself at Michael and knocks him back against the counter. After a small tussle, Ashton manages to throw Michael to the floor and crawl on top of him to grab a fistful of his hair and threaten to yank it out.

"Anyway," Calum rolls his eyes. "I'm going to- well, not be here, that sounds great."

Ashton shrieks from the floor, so calum goes off in search of Luke, again. He's not hard to find, he's just perched in Calum's bed, wrapped in his duvet, with only his head and hands visible. The box of crackers is in his hands, opened and already a quarter of the way gone, while Luke munches happily.

"Hi," he sniffs.

Calum crawls into bed with him and reaches into the box for a cracker. "Hi, Luke."

Luke giggles softly ad leans over to bump his nose against Calum's chin and cheek until Calum helps him out and slots their mouths together with a smile.