Luke being arrested for the possession of drugs made Michael believe that he would never be surprised by his boyfriend's secrets ever again.
But the reality of it was, was that it was only the beginning of all the secrets and lies. Everything soon...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
☻♡
28 - The Smoke
Being the end of his eight hour shift at the bar, Michael felt the pain in his back and feet throbbing throughout his body.
He hated this job, but it's what paid the bills.
Leaning against the wall outside and facing the parking lot, he immediately lit up a cigarette once he ended his shift. He needed that stress reliever and feeling the deadly smoke travel to his lungs gave him that. He couldn't even focus on the stars, but instead just on the smoke slowly damaging his body.
"What are you doing?"
A sudden voice caught him off guard, making him look over and pull himself off the wall panically when he saw Luke and Calum standing to the side of him.
He sighed when he saw them focusing on the death stick. His addiction was embarrassing and he didn't like people seeing him in the act, especially people he knew and cared about.
"What are you doing here?" He asked the two once he put out the cigarette and slid it back into his carton that was almost empty.
"We were passing by from a meeting and knew that you were working, so we wanted to stop by. Someone said that you just got off, so we came out here." Luke said simply until he asked his question more demanding, "When did you start smoking?"
"A few years back." Michael shrugged uncomfortably.
"Michael—" Calum started seriously, but Michael cut him off.
"I know! Okay? I know."
"We are going to talk about this eventually." Calum pointed out when he saw Michael's mood become sour before motioning for him to follow as they made their way to Calum's car, "But for now just hop in."
Luke cheekily opened the passenger seat for Michael, making him let out a small laugh as he made his way in.
It didn't take that long for the three to be situated in the car and making their way through the dark, but streetlight glowed roads.
"So where are we going?"
"Wherever you want. Do you want me to drop you off at your place or do you want to come to ours? Or do you want to go somewhere?"
"Go somewhere at three in the morning?" Michael chuckled, "Why are you even up this late?"
"A meeting." Calum casually answered.
"A meeting? What kind of meeting takes place at this time?"
Luke watched from the back, wondering what it was that Calum was going to respond with. They both didn't want to lie to the other, but it was just simply what was needed.
"I'm just as shocked as you are, baby." Calum played it off with a laugh, "It took so long, it's ridiculous."
"Yeah, that's pretty insane." Michael bought the lie, feeling too tired to really think about Calum's answer.
"So where are we heading?" Calum asked again.
"Can you drop me off at my place? There's a few things that I have to do at home."
"Of course." Calum responded, even though he wanted Michael to choose to come over to his place instead.
"What do you have to do?" Luke casually asked from the back.
"Just some boring house chores. I've been putting cleaning off since forever and I promised myself I was going to do it when I got off of work." Michael groaned at just the thought of what was to come.
"Oh I can help!" Luke took the opportunity.
"It's okay, Luke. I really doubt that you want to help me clean and at three in the morning at that."
"I want to. Promise."
"If you want to then yeah. But I'm serious that you don't have to."
He honestly wanted Luke to come over and to spend more time with him. But he also didn't want to bother or bore him with his chores.
"Then it's settled." Luke gleamed in success, "Sorry, Calum. Looks like you're all alone for tonight."
"And how will I sleep peacefully without your loud snores that I can still hear from the other room?" Calum scoffed playfully.
"I do not snore!"
"How would you know? You're asleep."
"Because I don't."
"Michael, baby, help me out." Calum said and moved his right hand over to hold his hand comfortably over Michael's left knee, "Does Luke snore?"
"Sometimes yeah. It's not super loud though. It's just kinda these low breathing sounds. So I wouldn't call it complete snoring."
"Told you, fucker!"
"Calm down with the language, Luke. There's a princess in the car." Calum chuckled when he heard Michael groan at the cringe.
"When did you become Ashton?" Michael joked, pushing himself and his feelings by grabbing Calum's hand placed on his knee, interlocking their fingers.
Calum smiled from this as he kept driving with one hand, "He can say some weird things, but I agree with you being a princess."
"Our princess." Luke confirmed with a small smile.
"I'm not a princess." Michael murmured in embarrassment.
"Yes you are."
"No I'm not." Michael sing-sung back in return.
Calum chuckled out at the adorable interaction between the two. He could tell that Michael was getting more comfortable with Luke again and he really hoped that Luke took the opportunity of going over to Michael's place as a way to make them even closer.
Cutting in to defend Luke's argument, Calum tightened his hand in Michael's as a comforting measure, "You're a princess, Michael. You're so pretty and you can have us on our knees in front of you with a snap of your fingers."
Calum was being honest. Michael really was the one who was the most in charge in their relationship that wasn't even official yet due to the fact that he was their baby.
