Jack sighed, massaging his temples in an attempt to dull the pounding in his head. "He needs to talk to someone, Ben. Luke couldn't be any less okay. It's been a week since that fight with Ashton, and it's obvious he's avoiding us."
"But Luke would never forgive us," Ben mumbled, collapsing onto the sofa. "Not to mention the fact that he won't to talk to us about anything, so why would he talk to a stranger?"
"Maybe that would be better, maybe he won't talk to us because we know him. It makes it personal."
Ben nodded hesitantly. "We can talk about it with him after dad's court hearing tomorrow, not before. There's no way in hell he'll be able to handle tha-"
"Hey, Luke," Jack interrupted, waving awkwardly at the youngest blond who'd just been out to pick something up for dinner. Ben was secretly relieved to have been stopped, but doubted that Luke hadn't heard any of the conversation.
"Hey," Luke smiled, dropping the two carrier bags onto the kitchen counter. "I got some frozen pizzas because they're easy, and they were discounted which is always a plus. Where's Michael?"
Jack laughed. "Your bedroom, I think he's been waiting for you. Oh, and Calum and Ashton went out, so you can make as much noise as you want. Just don't break the bed, we can't afford another."
As Luke walked past his brother, he smacked his arm a little too hard for it to be playful. "I hate you."
"Love you too!"
Luke didn't knock, opening his door slowly so it wouldn't creak, and peering into the room. Michael was curled up in a ball under the sheets, which just so happened to be batman, and his head was buried so far into the pillow that the blond could barely see his face.
He crept over and slid in next to Michael, draping his arm across the smaller boy's hip. Luke hadn't intended to wake him, but Michael must've felt the bed dip or the extra weight on his body, as he yawned and opened his eyes.
"Hi, love," Luke smiled, reaching his head forward and rubbing his nose against Michael's.
Michael giggled and moved closer, looking up at the blond with eyes that glistened with admiration. They always had, but it was different now. "C-can you kiss m-me?"
Luke hadn't expected to hear those words at all, but didn't hesitate for even a second. He connected their lips, for a little longer than the last time, and then trailed a line of small, delicate kisses down Michael's pale neck and along his collarbone.
The younger boy shivered, pulling his body closer to the blond's for both warmth and intimacy. An indescribable yet extraordinary feeling was shared by the two in that moment, something they'd only ever dreamt of.
Michael had never been around people; isolated and afraid for almost all of his life. He wasn't alone now, in fact, as far from it as he could get, he was in love. And that love was returned, just as strong if not stronger than what he was capable of giving. That gave him no reason to be fearful.
Luke needed him, like he needed Luke, and that bond was visible in nearly everything they did. It wasn't through words, because words weren't enough to describe what they felt, but it was the little things.
How Michael would take Luke's hands in his own to steady them, even if only briefly, and how Luke would introduce Michael to all the different foods he never knew existed. Before they went to sleep, Luke would hold Michael to his chest, repeating the promise he had made what felt like yesterday. He wasn't going to leave, ever.
"I know it will never really be over," Luke sighed, linking their fingers under the duvet. "Or, at least not whilst any one of us is still alive to tell the tale. But tomorrow, when my dad finally pays for his crimes, it's going to be different. I'm just not sure how."
Michael frowned, catching Luke's eyes for a moment but not wanting to hold contact. "W-we will all be n-normal people."
"Yeah, I guess. But so much has happened, how can we pretend that's everything's normal? Pretend that we weren't science experiments, that we didn't almost help a man take over the world?"
"We d-don't. Normal is d-different for everyone. T-this is ours."
"Our normal," Luke chuckled, "I like that."
Michael shuffled a little as though unsettled, and Luke became instantly aware that there was a question on the tip of his tongue. He deepened the crease between his eyebrows, asking him to say whatever he wanted to, and suddenly Michael seemed a little more confident. "C-can you tell me a-a story?"
"About what?" Luke smiled, although a little confused with what was being asked of him.
"I d-don't know," Michael shrugged. Something a-about your childhood, g-growing up. You m-must have some g-good memories."
Luke nodded, signalling for Michael to roll over so that his back was against the blond's chest. When he did so, Luke rested his head on top of his lilac hair and with one hand, ran his fingers gently through it. "I used to live in a small cottage with my parents and brothers, away from the city.
It wasn't a very attractive place when we first got there, there were smashed windows and creaky floorboards and everything else was a mess. We did up the house pretty quickly, all of us doing whatever we could to help. I must've been about five, but even I could move rubbish to the dump in the front yard.
The only problem after that was the garden, it was completely overrun with weeds and way too dangerous for us to all kick about a football every now and again. Then mum got really into gardening, and made it her mission to tidy the place up. Sometimes she'd spend hours in the dirt, planting all these different coloured flowers I didn't know the names of.
One time I picked a blue one, and ran inside to show her. After she scolded me for touching her precious work and killing an innocent flower, she told me it was the same colour as my eyes. I tried to argue, and told her that it was more like the sky, and no ones eyes were the same colour as the sky. Do you know what she said to me?"
Michael shook his head.
"Maybe your eyes have a bit of the sky in them, maybe everyone's do. An endless expanse of possibilities, just waiting to be explored. You're the pilot, Luke, a bird. Whatever you want to be, and whatever you want to do, don't give up. There's always hope."
"She w-was right," Michael said, facing the wrong direction to realise the tears that tracked down Luke's cheeks.
He missed his mother so much. It was worse some days, but most of the time he could just about push the sound of her voice to the back of his mind. If he didn't, Luke couldn't do it. He wasn't sure why he could remember those words she'd said to him so long ago, but he was glad.
Luke didn't notice that Michael had drifted off until he heard the snores, but he knew that no matter how tired he was, he wasn't going to be able to sleep that night. So, he held Michael a little tighter, and let his mind loose to do whatever the hell it wanted.
And for the next six hours, he heard those three words over and over until Michael woke up, and his brothers told him he needed to get ready for the hearing.
There's always hope.
~~~~~~~
A/n: I was rereading this story earlier and noticed that I changed things in different chapters and the overall timeline of events doesn't work out at all haha never mind
Hope this was okay, thanks for reading! :) x
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control - muke
Fanfiction"We need to get out of here, if we stay we'll be dead in a week." --- Where Luke is captured and thrown in with a boy who isn't quite what he seems.
