Chapter Text
September
Luke
Luke leaves his room in the morning feeling nervous, but ready. It’s the first day of junior year and he’s going to be starting some of his classroom observations this semester, looking over some fourth and fifth grade classes at a local elementary school. But today, he only has two classes on campus, back to back to make his schedule easier.
He makes his way into the kitchen, finding Ashton at the stove making pancakes and coffee, bopping along to the music playing low from his phone. He’s the only one awake so far, always the early riser of the four of them. His damp curls hang down over his face, clear that he’s already gone for a run and come back. Calum joins him sometimes, but Luke left him sleeping in bed, so Ashton must have gone solo today.
“Morning,” Luke grumbles, moving to the coffee machine to make his cup. Ashton doesn’t even startle, just smiles brightly at Luke and he flips a pancake.
“Ready for the first day?” Ashton sings, moving to plate some of the finished pancakes. Luke groans a response as he gets his coffee creamer from the fridge, pouring more than the necessary amount into the cup. Luke doesn’t miss Ashton’s grimace from the stove.
“Can you go wake the others while I finish this?” Ashton asks, pulling a stack of plates from a cabinet. Luke rolls his eyes but obliges, leaving his coffee mug on the counter.
It’s been three, almost four months of them living together like this, but waking up under the same roof as all his soulmates never gets old.
Luke and Calum finished out their sophomore year on campus while Michael moved into Ashton’s apartment for the spring. Even with them living in separate locations, they spent most of their free time at Ashton and Michael’s apartment, playing games or making dinner or just hanging out. They all got on quickly, making connections with one another and seeing how well they fit together as a group.
Going into the summer, it was decided that in place of Calum and Luke going home, they would simply all have to live together. It seemed like the best option for them, getting to spend every moment with their soulmates. They knew that the one bedroom place wasn’t going to cut it for the four of them, not with Calum and Luke wanting their established space compared to Ashton and Michael. When it was brought up that they should just get two separate apartments to make things easier, it was immediately shot down. They wanted to spend all their time together, but there needed to be some option for space when needed.
So they got a two bedroom apartment just a bit off campus, close enough that Luke could drive them to campus easily and Ashton didn’t have a long commute to his job with the city on maintaining proper environmental standards. At least, that’s what Luke thinks he does. He’s honestly not too sure what Ashton does day to day, but he knows that it makes him happy and he’s able to work flexible hours, so it works for all of them.
Luke took Calum home to meet his family at the end of the semester before they moved into the new place. Luke’s mom fawned over him and insisted that Luke bring the other two home next time. They ventured to Calum’s hometown too, Calum’s sister immediately stating how perfect they were for one another. It was nice, having the family blessings on the larger half of their relationship, though they all had to promise that next time, they would travel as the four together. It was going to make the holidays tricky, but they would be able to work it out.
Over the summer, Luke loved coming home from his job nannying for a local family to Michael playing obnoxiously loud video games on the couch, swearing up and down at the screen. Calum would normally work the late afternoons, coming home right before dinner time from his job as a gym receptionist. Michael found himself working at the pet store, thinking that maybe if he tried hard enough, he could convince Ashton to let them take home one of the dogs. It hasn’t worked so far, but Michael is still adamant that he’s going to crack sooner or later.
It worked for them, sharing their actual space but having a separate bedroom for Luke and Calum and another for Ashton and Michael. Their transition from two pairs to a group of four was simple once they had established that there weren’t romantic feelings between them at all other than their initial relationships. Instead, each duo had their own particular relationship that worked especially well for them.
If Luke wasn’t with Calum, he spent most of his time with Ashton, hanging off his every move. There was something about the oldest/youngest relationship that worked for them, Ashton paying extra attention to making sure that Luke was okay and helping him through anything he needed. In return, Luke was making Ashton warm up to the idea of never ending cuddles, constantly pressed against him if Calum wasn’t around. Ashton gave him the tough love that no one else was willing to give him for fear that he would break. Sometimes Luke resented him for it, but it would only last a little bit until Luke would be crawling back to Ashton, pressing his cold feet up against his calves as a thank you.
Luke and Michael terrorized each other. From the moment they decided they weren’t going to let their initial meeting go, they constantly were poking fun at one another for any stupid thing they did. It was all out of love and they both knew it, but they still caused chaos with one another every day. But the second that either one of them went too far, they were quick to apologize and make up, never letting things simmer between them for too long. They also had the deepest conversations, getting each other in a way that no one else could. They struggled with the same insecurities, going through the same mental tolls that Ashton and Calum just couldn’t understand. They helped each other out of some of their hardest moments, able to communicate on another level.
Calum and Michael got along insanely fast, diving head first into finishing each other's sentences and laughing over the stupidest things. There was no awkward beginning for them, instead instantly becoming the best friends that the universe destined them to be. If Calum wasn’t working the night, Luke often would come home to see them physically cuddled up on the couch while playing video games, Calum’s head in Michael’s lap or vice versa. They were the least problematic of any of the duos, always giggling and talking and sharing random snippets of their lives with each other.
It had already been established that Calum and Ashton were one in the same, two parts of the same whole. They worked together by being so incredibly similar, bouncing ideas off of each other and always siding together during group debates, no matter the topic. It was interesting to see their dynamic in the flesh rather than just hearing about it as Luke had for the month prior to them all meeting. Now Luke understood why Calum was always laughing hysterically at his phone and never seemed to be able to stop talking about Ashton.
Seeing Ashton and Michael’s relationship was also a privilege for Luke. Ashton always knew how to balance out Michael’s drama, somehow able to know exactly what he needed without Michael having to say it. They coexisted almost seamlessly, Ashton fulfilling his ever present need to take care of someone else and Michael falling into his only child role of always being the baby. Ashton ended up taking on the role of taking care of all of them, not just Michael, but his first priority was always Michael, no matter what.
It worked. Where someone lacked, there was always someone else to pick up the slack. None of them ever had to want for anything because they could get it from someone. In need of physical affection? Luke would cuddle with anyone. A shoulder to cry on and good advice? Ashton has your back. A good laugh and a distraction? Michael would be there in a minute. A long conversation and lots of heart to hearts? Calum would open his whole soul to anyone who would listen.
And even when Luke told Ashton and Michael that he was ace, neither of them cared. There was a private discussion first between Calum and Luke, Luke worried that he wasn’t enough for Calum now that there were other people in the picture that might be able to offer Calum things that Luke wouldn’t ever want to do. But with kisses and promises, Calum swore that Luke was more than enough for him in every single way possible.
Still, Luke tried to give him the out of being with Ashton or Michael if he needed, which Calum vehemently denied. Michael tried to lighten the mood with a crude joke when it came to Luke sharing Calum with them, Ashton smacking him upside the head for being a moron, but Luke only smiled. Everyone accepted everyone here, with no need for anxieties about being themselves.
Luke reminisses as he walks down the hallway to Michael and Ashton’s bedroom, knocking once before going in, knowing that Michael would still be dead asleep. Luke tiptoes over to the sleeping body, deciding that with the first day of Michael’s senior year, Luke wouldn’t give him the worst wake up call.
He shakes Michael’s shoulder lightly, but enough to jolt his whole body with the movement, “Mike, come on, breakfast time.” Michael groans but sits up, rubbing his eyes tiredly.
“Time?” he mumbles, yawning behind his hand.
“Almost 9. You have class soon, we gotta get moving if you want to make it on time.”
Luke takes a moment to look at Michael’s fluffy bed mused hair, pink now. He dyed it the moment that he could see its true color, stating that he couldn’t live a life with such a basic color on his head when there were thousands of other possibilities. It’s stayed a shade of bubblegum pink since that day, fading to pale every so often when he was too lazy to spend the time dyeing it. Luke loved it in every iteration.
Michael mumbles some kind of curse under his breath and pulls the blankets off his lap. With his work here completed, Luke places a kiss on Michael’s head and leaves him to get dressed. He crosses the hall to his own bedroom, ready to see his sleeping boyfriend in their bed.
When he opens the door, Calum is sitting up in bed, scrolling through his phone. “Aw, I was looking forward to waking you up,” Luke whines, climbing into bed next to Calum.
Calum grins and places a sleepy kiss to Luke’s nose, “Sorry bub, next time. I missed you when you got up.”
“That’s sappy,” Luke says, unable to keep the smile off his face. Calum’s love is enchanting, wrapping Luke up entirely and never letting him feel neglected. He hopes that he gives Calum that same feeling back.
“It’s been a year since we met,” Calum reminds him, tucking a loose curl behind Luke’s ear. The realization hits him then, that he’s known Calum for a whole year, having met the day after move-in last year. A whole year of being able to see the color red, of being effortlessly in love with another human. Luke almost feels like he can’t remember the time before Calum, all a distant hazy memory in the rearview mirror. He has all he needs now, so why linger on the time before?
“Feels like yesterday,” Luke whispers, pressing a kiss to Calum’s cheek.
“Feels like I’ve known you for all my life.”
Luke rolls his eyes to avoid the blush creeping up again, “Stop it, you’re being stupidly cheesy today. Can we go get breakfast already, Ashton is making pancakes and I left my coffee in the kitchen to come wake you up. If I don’t get to drink it before we have to leave, it’ll be you who has to deal with exhausted me later.”
Calum laughs, shaking his head with a smile on his face, “Let’s go, princess.”
“Stop calling me that, it’s bad enough when Michael says it, but it’s totally different from you!” Luke whines, sliding off the bed. Calum follows behind him, wrapping his arm around Luke’s broad shoulders.
“Never,” Calum says as they reach the kitchen, winking at Luke as Michael tilts his head from his place on the countertop.
“Do I want to know?” Michael asks, sipping his tea as he swings his feet.
“Best not to ask,” Ashton reminds him, hip checking Michael’s legs playfully, plating the last of the pancakes from the griddle. “Alright kids, eat up before school.”
“Don’t say shit like that if you don’t want us calling you ‘daddy’,” Calum teases, scooching past Ashton to get his own cup of coffee from the machine.
“You’re insufferable,” Ashton groans, bringing the plate to the countertop. Syrup and butter sit next to the stack of plates, ready for them to eat.
“You love us,” Luke offers, speaking up for the first time since returning to the kitchen.
Ashton pauses, taking a quick glance around the kitchen at all of the boys. “Yeah, I do,” he says softly, smiling directly at Luke while Michael and Calum start bickering over something stupid like who gets the biggest pancake.
It’s love, in every form of the word. Luke doesn’t know how he got so lucky as to have both a romantic and two platonic soulmates, showing him the world as he’s never seen it before. It’s not a lot, but it's enough, just the four of them against the world.