Strings Attached (lashton, editing)

Twenty-One.

Luke felt as though they had been in the court room for hours, when in reality it had been less than an hour. From the moment he stepped into the room with Michael he could feel the older man's eyes burning into his skin. He had taken a few quick glances at him, but couldn't bear to look for long.

Luke feared he'd give in if he did. He feared that the guilt would overtake his body and he'd let Michael get away with being a slack parent.

They'd been sitting in the too large of a court room going over all the reasons why they needed formal custody, over all the reasons Luke needed full custody of their son and over all the reasons Michael had been failing as a proper supporter to his son and ex-boyfriend.

Michael and his lawyer had tried to excuse his slack behaviour, but Luke didn't think the judge was having it. Every time Michael came up with an excuse as to why he didn't have a job, the family court seemed to shake in disappointment.

Disappointment wasn't something Luke had ever wanted to feel in Michael, he used to be so proud of the man. But now, as Michael did the bare minimum and refused to let Luke move on to better the life on their son and himself, he felt disappointed.

"There is one more thing my client has brought to my attention that may affect Mr. Hemmings' solo parenting skills," Michael lawyer spoke, catching the attention of both Luke and his own lawyer. Sharing a confused look, the two turned to face the other table to see what Michael had said. "It appears that Mr. Hemmings has a troubling past with mental health, more specifically depression. Mr. Clifford here informed me of a three month period after the two initially broke up, in which Mr. Clifford had to do most of the parenting due to Mr. Hemmings being unfit."

"Mr. Hemmings, is this true?" the judge turned to Luke and his lawyer, both of whom looked shocked at the turn of events.

"I-I..yes. But that was three years ago, I have been absolutely fine ever since," Luke spoke up, stuttering through his sentence. "There was a lot going on then, it was nothing to do with Tim or Michael."

Luke frantically turned to his lawyer, needing some reassurance that this wouldn't screw up his entire case. Luke couldn't let sad Luke from three years ago ruin his life now, not again.

"I'm going to need you to provide me with some more information about this, and we'll continue this another day," the judge sighed looking at Luke and his lawyer. "I'll expect it by this time tomorrow, whatever you can provide."

Dismissing the small group of people in the room, the judge spoke quickly and quietly with both Luke's and Michaels lawyers before walking out the room.

Feeling a push towards the doors, Luke can barely bring himself to move but let's himself be shuffled out of the room.

"What the fuck Michael," Luke turns to where Michael and his lawyer stand in fury. "How dare you, you know there was a lot going on then. You know that has nothing do to with Tim."

"You're trying to take him from me, Luke. I won't let that happen," Michael takes a step towards Luke who is breathing heavily. "I'm not going to lose this."

"Jesus Michael, you love making everything so hard!" Luke can feel the anxiety taking over his body, he can feel it taking over his brain.

"At least I can handle it!" Michael snaps back, taking yet another step forward. "At least I don't rely on everyone else to help me get through it. At least I don't run and hide when things get tough!"

"You're an asshole, Michael," Luke turns sharply as his body begins to shake from the anger and fear running through his veins. He hasn't felt like this in three whole years, how dare Michael bring it back up now.

"Run off, Luke. You're great at that," Michael snarls one last time before he, too, turns and walks off.

Luke doesn't stop until he is at his car. His breathing only quickens and his hands start shaking as he tries to calm his body, but fails.

Looking at the time he knows he has to pick Tim up in two hours. He has two hours to compose himself.

However Luke doesn't think he can.

His fingers are burning and his stomach is erupting in stampedes of angry animals.

Quickly turning on his car, Luke drives off to a park. A park he had spent much of the last ten years sitting in with his friends and family, with his ex-boyfriend or all on his own. Over the years Luke had spent plenty of time there, he would hide in that park when things got tough and celebrate in it when life felt good.

Today he was there because it was tough.

Stumbling out of the car, Luke rips off his tie and suit jacket before walking sitting under one of the many trees.

Unbuttoning half the buttons on his shirt, Luke tries to control his breathing. He can feel himself blanking out, everything is blurry and his ears are ringing. Clawing at his neck, he tries to force himself to breath, I come back down to earth but he can't. There are tears pricking at his eyes and invisible needles digging into his spine.

Luke whips out his phone and shakily opens up Calum's contact.

Can you please pick up Tim, I've gotta do something. I'm gonna go see Ash for a bit after work.

As soon as he presses send, Luke throws his phone to the ground.

He knows he has just lied to Calum, but he doesn't care. He doesn't want the man to worry about him any more than he already does.

For three whole years Luke has been able to control himself, to keep himself calm. But today, he can't. Today, Luke has to let go entirely and let the anxiety and anger take over his trembling body.

-

So this is actually going to be a three part piece ahah, oops.

Thoughts on Michael and his lawyer bringing up Luke's mental health?

Luke having had issues in the past?

Luke and Michael arguing?

Luke running off like he did?

Luke texting Calum to look after Tim and lying to him about where he is/what he's doing?

Leave a comment with your thoughts, and vote/follow if you enjoyed this! I really does mean a lot!

- Grace