sugar babysitter ➟ muke

four

ever since michael was little, his vivid imagination had always gotten the best of him. he misinterpreted signs a lot and his brain insisted that a lot of things weren't actually the way they seemed, which was why michael was so convinced that luke actually wanted michael to be his sugar baby, not the babysitter for his two beautiful twins.

one would think that michael would be cautious about these kinds of things since it has happened to him many times, but he couldn't help but push back the tiny voices in the back of his mind warning him to be cautious, that he might be tricking himself again. the louder voices in his mind egged him on and convinced him that luke was totally into him, making michael just plain excited.

which was why he practically ran into the apartment that night after his shift had ended, shutting the door with his foot and racing into the kitchen where ashton was standing by the stove boiling some water for their spaghetti.

"ashy!" michael exclaimed, running up to the wavy haired boy and clinging to him from the back, wrapping his arms around his neck and his legs around ashton's torso, "i gave him my number! hot guy from work, he came back to see me and he wanted my number!"

"that's great, michael," ashton stumbled slightly with the extra weight placed on him before dumping the spaghetti into the big silver pot, "you figured out his name and all?"

"yeah, it's luke," michael sighed dreamily, releasing his grip on ashton as he began to stir the spaghetti into the water, "he's such an amazing guy, ash. he said that he wanted me to babysit for his two kids, but i'm pretty sure that's some kind of code. i think he just wants me around more often so that he can see me a lot more."

"mike..." ashton hesitated, putting down the wooden spoon he was using to stir the spaghetti and glancing over at his excited best friend, unsure of how to warn him of himself, "um, don't get ahead of yourself, please. take things slow with him, yeah? make sure that he wants it before you make any moves."

"alright," michael smiled contently as he moved away from ashton, placing his name tag on the kitchen table along with his belt once he had untucked his shirt, "oh, look at what his kid drew! his son literally drew me last night, do you know what that means? that means that luke talked about me with him. god, i wonder what he said."

"probably nothing important since he was talking to his kid," ashton sighed, stirring the spaghetti again before michael finally took a seat at the kitchen table, his fingers drumming against the table and his legs bouncing up and down. he could hardly contain his excitement, thus causing him to become fidgety.

"right, i need to get myself together," michael took some deep breaths before reaching into the front pocket of his black skinny jeans, placing matthew's drawing on the table and then pulling out his phone. he checked his notifications, pouting at the fact that he had no new notifications before putting his phone on the kitchen table.

"ready for diary of a wimpy kid tonight?" ashton changed the topic, giving michael a smile as he dumped the spaghetti into a different bowl in the sink, all of the hot water going down the drain.

"yeah," michael was still taking deep breaths, trying to calm himself down enough that his legs wouldn't bounce up and down, "i'm excited to spend some quality time with my best friend."

"yeah, so am i," ashton smiled fondly at michael before filling two bowls with spaghetti and then placing one in front of michael. the faux blond grinned at the sight of the pasta and dug in as ashton sat across from him at their small kitchen table, the wavy haired boy watching michael in amusement before he began to eat his own pasta.

"do you think i should have boiled it a little more?" ashton asked, frowning at the taste once he had swallowed a mouthful. michael shrugged as his jaw worked up and down, then he swallowed and took a sip from his water bottle.

"maybe a little bit, but it's still good," michael insisted, briefly checking his phone before shoving another forkful into his mouth, having to twirl the spaghetti around his fork multiple times, "so, any news on cute guy from college? like, have you spoken to him yet like you said you would?"

"not yet," ashton admitted sheepishly, glancing down at his bowl of spaghetti longingly, "i just don't know how to approach him or what to say to him. he's just so beautiful, and i'm so plain."

"don't say that about yourself," michael frowned, causing ashton to glance back up towards michael with his eyebrows furrowed, "ash, any guy would be lucky as hell to go out with you. you're such an amazing guy; i just really wish you could see that. so grow a pair and start talking to the guy before i go to your college and ask him out for you."

"i don't know what i'm really scared about it for, whether the fact that he's so hot or maybe i feel like i don't want to be tied down just yet, but whenever i want to go talk to him, i get butterflies in my stomach," ashton briefly explained, his fork swishing around his spaghetti halfheartedly, "i wish you could come to my class, mikey. that would boost up my confidence for a bit."

"then i'll do it," michael grinned, pulling out his phone to check his work schedule even though he already knew which days he wasn't working, "i'm free tuesday and thursday; i can go one of those days."

"you'd do that for me?" ashton clarified with a smile on his lips, watching his best friend go through his phone. michael nodded in response, his eyes lighting up when he saw a certain notification.

"luke just texted me; the guy from work," michael said excitedly, pulling the conversation up on his messages app, "wait, ash, help me on how to answer his texts."

luke: hey, michael? this is luke.

michael: hi!!

luke: hello. are you available to babysit tomorrow and wednesday, 4-10 each day?

michael: i can tuesday, but i have work on wednesday. i could get someone to take my shift though

luke: alrighty then, it's settled. see you tuesday and wednesday. i'll send you my address the day of.

"'alrighty then?'" ashton repeated, narrowing his eyes at michael's phone screen from across the table, "oh, dude, he's horny. he's so horny; you can tell by how curt his texts were and he was getting right to the point because he wanted the conversation over so that he could go wank off."

"should i offer to sext?" michael asked with wide eyes, his fingers already pulling up the keyboard as his eyes flickered back down to his phone screen, "i do want to please him."

"no, michael, that's not your job, not yet anyway," ashton reminded, making michael frown before nodding and locking his phone, "i told you, take things slowly with him. don't try to force him into being your boyfriend or anything."

michael pressed his lips together and glanced down at his lap again. he didn't think that he was going to tell ashton about the sugar baby daddy thing just yet, mainly because he knew that ashton would get judgemental before getting protective and then demand to go meet this guy so that he could have a 'chat' with him.

so as for right now, the sugar baby and sugar daddy thing between michael and luke was just their little secret.