Chapter Text
Luke slowly sat up, fingers running through his hair before he let them drop to his lap as he replayed the conversation he’d had the night before with Michael; it didn’t change anything, obviously, he’d only known him for a few hours but he felt like he’d known him forever.
“Did you know this corridor is the only one with rooms with en-suite bathrooms in the actual dorms?” came a chirpy voice from the other side of the room. The blond blinked blearily as he made out the shape of Michael, before reaching into the drawer and sliding his glasses onto his nose.
“Really? Well, that’s good because I really don’t feel like letting it all hang out in front of guys I’ve never met before,” Luke spoke quietly, eyes still half-closed. The boy had stayed awake for hours after his conversation with Michael, an internal battle about whether he should tell Michael he was gay too. Coming out at home had been a nightmare, his family were supportive. Eventually.
Michael furrowed his eyebrows at the distant look in the azure hues of the male on the bed opposite, clad in fresh sweats and a jumper the boy carefully made his way over to Luke and sat beside him.
“Is everything okay?” the boy asked quietly, letting his gaze flicker over Luke. Even though he’d only just met Luke, he felt this need to protect him, almost as though if he didn’t Luke would disappear forever.
“Y-Yeah, just… bad memories from high school and open showers,” Luke told the other boy, lifting his head to look at Michael- a slight smile tugging on his lips. The warm expression on Michael’s face made Luke want to tell him everything, made him want to pour his heart out and never stop; but he couldn’t. Not yet he couldn’t.
“Well, I’ll shower and we can go and explore? I mean, if you’re not already busy?” Luke asked hopefully, eyes wide as he looked at Michael from behind his lenses. A wider smile pulled on his lips when Michael agreed, clambering out of his bed and grabbing some fresh clothes and disappearing into the adjoined bedroom.
Michael sighed gently, walking back over to his side of the room- a small pout on his lips; he was disappointed that Luke hadn’t confided in him about what he was thinking about but he could hardly blame him. They’d known each other for less than 24 hours, but Michael wanted to know the blond boy. He wanted to know what was going on inside that pretty little head of his, he wanted to know what made him happy and what made him sad and he certainly didn’t want to know what the boy sounded like making pretty little whines and moans.
The red-haired boy shook his head, fingers running through his hair. He couldn’t think like that about Luke, not now. He didn’t even know if the boy was gay. He probably wasn’t, nobody Michael ever liked was gay. Michael chewed on his lip as he stared at the ceiling, his thoughts whirred back to his home life and his best friends. He’d been lucky enough to have supportive parents when he came out, especially given that he knew how rare it was to have supportive parents. He still kept his best friends, it was just a shame they hadn’t come here with him. Calum had gotten into a different university on a football scholarship and whilst Michael was unbelievably happy for him, he couldn’t help but wish the dark-haired boy was here with him.
Luke stood under the tepid water, a small sigh leaving his lips as he washed his hair. He wished he’d just opened up to Michael, but that would mean telling him everything and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to scare the boy away just yet. Once Luke was washed, he got out- taking his time with drying himself off before he pulled on his boxers and clothes, walking back into the room.
“Luke? Is everything okay? I know we’ve only just met, but I’m more than willing to listen if something is bothering you,” Michael told him, standing up from his bed as he grabbed the key for their dorm and looked over at the blond boy, a slight frown on his lips when the blond didn’t answer him. Michael wasn’t great at one sided conversations.
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The blond walked alongside Michael, cerulean hues taking in everything as he licked over his bottom lip. The boy wanted to spill everything to Michael, wanted to tell him why he was so hesitant about opening up- but that would defeat the purpose of it. Luke glanced at the other boy, eyes flickering over his side-profile, eyes locking on an eyebrow piercing he hadn’t noticed before; subtly had never quite been Luke’s strong point.
“Blondie, you’ve been staring at me for a good three minutes,” Michael chuckled, elbow gently jabbing into Luke’s side.
“S-Sorry,” the blond stammered, gaze dropping to his feet as he began to click his fingers. He knew it was annoying but it was all he could focus on without totally freaking out at being caught staring. Luke took a deep breath, glancing across at Michael before looking back at his feet.
Michael furrowed his eyebrows as he watched Luke clicking his fingers, dragging his bottom lip through his teeth before reaching out to hold onto the boy’s wrist.
“Luke? What’s going on?” he asked gently, hands slowly moving to hold onto Luke’s fingers so he’d stop clicking.
The genuine concern on Michael’s face shook Luke up slightly, blue eyes closing as he took a deep breath.
“I don’t want you to go away when we’ve only just met,” Luke spoke quietly, carefully taking his hands away from Michael and jamming them into his pockets as he looked up at Michael.
“Now, I thought we were exploring… Not standing around here,” he grinned, bumping Michael’s arm before beginning to walk once more; leaving a confused Michael stood behind him trying to work out what the blond boy meant.