Worship in the Bedroom [Cake]

11

  Calum knocks on the door of Luke's apartment and rocks back of his heels slowly. Behind him, Ashton's attempting to crawl onto Michael's shoulders and failing terribly, muffling quiet grunts and ignoring Michael's groans and complaints.

The door flings open to reveal Luke, with very obviously red hair and a small, diamond stud in his nose. He's got on ripped black jeans and a leather jacket, chest bare to show off the ink littering his pale chest.

Calum frowns and opens his mouth, closes it again, and repeats the process four more times before finding his voice. "Lu-" he cuts off when a Luke that looks almost exactly like the one in front of him jogs into the entryway with a sheepish smile on his face. This Luke looks more like Calum remembers him, blonde, in a sweatshirt, and free of any piercing or tattoos. Calum slowly finish with a long, drawn out, "-ke?"

"Um, hi," Luke shuffles around nervously and shoves the other guy out of the way, ignoring his scoff. "Hi, um. Uh, this is weird, can I-" he cuts off and turns to his doppelganger. "Go away, leave me alone."

"No," he responds petulantly.

Luke scowls (which is something Calum's never really seen from him), and shoves at the red haired boy's bare chest. He stumbles and quickly shoves Luke back. If that is Luke, Calum's still confused.

"Go away!" Luke demands, shoving him again, in the direction of the living room. "I have to talk to my friends. Just because you don't have any, doesn't mean you can talk to mine!"

The other boy shoves Luke into the wall next to him, hard enough that it shakes, before stalking off into the living room. Luke scowls after him, but quickly shakes it off and smiles sheepishly up at Calum. His eyes flicker to Ashton, who's still clinging to Michael's back, before looking back to the brown boy.

"Um, so, I have a brother," Luke says softly. "I- well, I have multiple brothers. Like, five. No, six, I have six. Sorry, there's a new one."

Calum stares at him in shock for a second. When Luke referenced his family, he only mentioned his mother. He figured it was just her and Luke, not her and Luke and six brothers and a possible father figure. Fuck, Calum thinks, eight or nine family members and they're still rich. Calum can't even imagine.

He blinks at Luke, then nods. "Okay."

"Okay," Luke repeats. He rubs his hands over his thighs and glances over to Ashton and Michael nervously.

Ashton kicks Michael's thigh with his heel and grips tighter to his neck with one arm, using the other to gesture towards Luke's front door. "I wanna meet him. Onward."

"I don't think-" Luke starts, only to get nearly trampled by the two of them as Michael bolts through the door with Ashton grinning on his back. Michael toes off his own shoes before pulling Ashton's off, then treks into the apartment to find the first brother.

When they're out of sight, Calum shuffles into the room and starts on his shoes. "You didn't tell me," he frowns up at Luke.

"I didn't-" Luke swallows thickly and looks down. "I don't see them often. I- Olive lives in Spain and the rest of them haven't come around yet. There's a whole slew of them, I'll- can I please explain inside?"

Calum nods and wraps his arm around Luke's waist. He's not mad at Luke, he's just startled. Maybe concerned, as well, because Luke's family seems like a soft spot. They find Michael and Ashton all buried under the blankets of Luke's big bed, his brother sandwiched between them with a grin on his face.

It's a comical sight, the boy who looks exactly like Luke with vibrant red hair lying between Michael and Ashton with thick blankets tucked under their chins. Calum's not surprised, but Luke squawks and grabs his brother's ankles through the blankets.