Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It started small, Luke would spend time talking with Jacob when they had lessons together. Then, it turned into them spending lunch together. Soon enough, they were walking home together and they didn't even live very close, Luke would end up walking the last twenty minutes alone if he didn't bump into Clyde or Rani.

But it wasn't until Jacob and Luke started studying together that Clyde and Rani got jealous.

"What is going on with Jacob and Luke? They've never spoken to each other then all of a sudden they're best buddies." Clyde huffed as he and Rani watched the pair leave the school gates without them.

"Clyde are you jealous?" Rani teased, before continuing after Clyde's boyish protests, "it is weird, they're so... Different around each other. Luke looks all... I don't know, soft around him and Jacob looks like he's having fun for once."

The two changed their conversation until they made it to Rani's house, where they saw Luke entering the house with Jacob laughing. Sarah Jane was off interviewing someone about a car accident, she was supposed to be an average journalist after all. "Luke isn't supposed to have anyone over, not even us. What if he shows Jacob the attic?" Clyde complained.

"He won't, he's smarter than that... It is weird though, he never disobeys Sarah Jane."

"Look, if there's any fun drama between Sarah Jane and Luke tell me about it." Clyde joked before going down the road and turning the corner to his street

And in fact, there was some drama. It wasn't fun at all though. Rani was helping her mum out in the front garden when they saw Jacob leaving, Luke waving goodbye. A few seconds later, Sarah Jane came storming out.

"Luke, I told you that you weren't allowed to have anyone over!" Sarah Jane sounded pissed off. "I don't even know who he is!"

"I thought you wanted me to make friends! Besides, Jacob is a good person, he wouldn't-"

"No, I don't want to hear it! I never want to see that boy in this house again, you hear me?"

"Why are you being such a bitch about this?!" Luke swore before his hand flew over his mouth. The two suddenly became aware of Rani and Gita's eyes on them and Luke rushed inside.

Sarah Jane stayed outside for a second, stood in shock. She then shakily waved at Gita and Rani as if everything was okay, despite her eyes being glazed with tears. She then rushed into the house again, slamming the door.

"Wow..." Rani was shocked, Luke and Sarah Jane never argued and Luke never swore, despite the situations that the group had been in.

The next day was a mess. Luke left early, storming out and walking in the direction of where Jacob liver rather than school. Rani had told Clyde and was certainly worried about her two friends across the road.

Gita had told Haresh, out of concern for Luke and Sarah Jane and encouraged him and Rani to check on Luke. That afternoon, before the kids came home, Gita went over to number 13 to make sure Sarah Jane was okay.

"Hi, Sarah, love. Sorry to stick my nose in, but is everything alright after last night?" Gita asked softly, still smiling comfortingly like always.

Sarah Jane could already feel herself tearing up, trying to deny the fact that she was more than hurt by Luke's words. "I- uh- I'm uh- I'm fine."

Gita shook her head, "no you're not, now why don't we talk about it over some tea, hm?"

So, the two women sat on the bench in Sarah Jane's garden with two mugs of tea. "He's never. He's never disobeyed me, not like this. And he... He doesn't swear. Ever. I just... I thought I was getting a hang of the parenting stuff. But last night... Do you and Rani ever argue?"

Gita laughed a little, "of course, sometimes just over small things, sometimes about big things. But it's just because we have our feelings and will always think we're in the right. But what we do is we apologise, we talk about it when we feel better and figure out how to move on. And then we cook together, but that might not be up your street. Just you know, talk it out then try and do something you both enjoy."

Sarah Jane nodded and smiled, "thank you, so much. This talk helped... A lot."

Her friend nodded and hugged her tightly. "It'll be alright, Luke loves you, I know it."

Things didn't go as well at school. During form, Luke was taken out by Mr Chandra. "Luke is everything alright? Rani told me about your fight with Sarah Jane last night and that doesn't seem like you. Is there anything going wrong at school I can deal with or anything you want me to tell Sarah Jane?"

A monster seemed to bubble up inside of Luke and the teen clenched his fists. "Are you kidding? Why would I tell you? You're such an-" he stopped himself, "no, everything is fine. Can I go now?"

"Luke, if anything is going wrong you can talk to me, alright? It'll stay between us unless you want me to tell someone."

"Fine, I don't want to be around your daughter or Clyde because I think that they're going to hate everything about me, I think if I tell Sarah Jane how I feel she'll get rid of me and if one more person says anything about me arguing with Sarah Jane I'll kill myself. Can I go now?" Luke stood up, slamming his hands on the desk.

"Get out of my office." Mr Chandra was shocked by what Luke had just said, too shocked to be angry.

The 15-year-old stormed out, bag slung over his shoulder. He didn't go back to his form, spending the remaining ten minutes in the bathroom texting Jacob and trying not to cry.

He went into his first lesson a few minutes late, just saying he'd been in Mr Chandra's office and going over to his seat beside Clyde. "Luke, are you okay?" Langer asked quietly.

"Leave me alone." Luke muttered, going to his work and ignoring Clyde.

At the end of the day, Luke and Jacob were hanging out in the park to get Luke's mind off of everything. Luke's head was rested on Jacob's chest as they lay under a tree that was away from the main area of the park. "I can't believe Rani would tell her dad? What if she told Clyde too? She always does this, she can't handle not being part of something."

"They aren't worth it, Luke. There's no point in upsetting yourself, I miss your cute little smile." Jacob teased and leaned down to kiss Luke gently. They kissed for a few moments before Luke laughed lightly.

"You're so sweet... Thank you." Their sweet moment was interrupted by Luke's phone ringing. "Ugh, it's my mum... I should get this." He sat up, holding Jacob's hand.

"Luke, where are you? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just hanging out with Rani and Clyde." Luke chuckled a bit as Jacob teased him for lying.

"Oh really? Because Clyde and Rani are here right now. Get home." Sarah Jane hung up.

"I hate those assholes!"

Jacob gently hugged Luke, "Hey, you don't mean that. They're just worried about you, you're like a family. You should go home, I'll walk you there... Maybe you can tell them about us?" He suggested, hoping he could get to spend time with his boyfriend more often.

"No... I can't. I can't tell how they're going to react, I can't predict anything about this- I don't have any control over it."

"You don't have to do anything you aren't ready to do, but I will always be here, okay?"

"Okay..."

So, Jacob walked Luke home.

"It'll be alright, text me later." Jacob kissed Luke's cheek as he unlocked the door. "See you tomorrow!" Jacob walked off.

Luke went in and upstairs to the attic. "Are you guys in here?" He went in to see Sarah Jane looking frustrated and Clyde and Rani sat on the step.

"Luke, where were you?" Sarah Jane asked, both upset and worried. She went over to hug Luke.

The 15-year-old moved away from her a bit. "I was with Jacob, he was helping me with something..."

"What? How to be a jerk to all your friends? You've been ignoring us ever since you two became buddies." Clyde stood up and crossed his arms.

"I haven't meant to, it's just... Jacob and I get on well, it's nice having a friend who sees me as a person and not what the bane created."

"What do you mean?"

"I can tell how you look at me, you always laugh at me for being weird, if I act normal you want me to be how the bane made me again if I act like how the bane made me you treat me like a freak! Like the creature!" Luke shouted, before turning to Rani, "why would you tell your dad about what happened last night? You had no right!" He stormed out, slamming the attic door and going to his room.

Sarah Jane sunk onto the attic step, putting her head in her hands. "I think you two should go..."

"Are you sure? Maybe we can talk to Luke?" Clyde suggested.

"No, come on Clyde..." Rani took Clyde out of the house.

Luke didn't come downstairs until a few hours later, around 8 p.m. He just wanted to get some water, but he went downstairs to find Sarah Jane on the phone pacing.

"Thank you for telling me... I'll speak to him soon. Thank you, Haresh." Sarah Jane put the phone down as the call ended and sighed, leaning her head in her hand worriedly. "What am I gonna do with him?" She muttered to herself.

"Mum?" Luke asked nervously from the doorway of the living room, fiddling with the sleeve of his shirt. "What's wrong?"

Sarah Jane turned around quickly, startled by Luke. She relaxed and went over to him. "I'm so sorry Luke, I shouldn't have gotten so upset last night." She hugged him tightly, "I'm sorry I haven't noticed."

"Noticed what?" Luke asked nervously, hugging his mother back.

"That you're struggling so much, I should've known, I'm your mother."

"I'm fine, where is this all coming from?" Luke was unsure whether to be angry or relieved, maybe this was a good opening to come out.

"Haresh just phoned and told me that you might be suicidal. Why didn't you tell me?"

Luke couldn't think of any excuse, so he was honest. "Because I think you're going to get rid of me if I tell you what's going on..."

"Nothing would ever make me get rid of you, Luke. I love you so much, you're my family. I'll be here for you no matter what." Sarah Jane hugged him and he returned it, relaxing a bit. "If you aren't ready to tell me, that's okay. But please don't think for one second I will hate you for anything."

"Thank you, mum... I think I should go to bed. Love you." He left quickly, going to his room and picking up his phone to message Jacob before going to sleep.

Chapter Text

Haha I don't even have like any excuse for why this went unfinished. I literally have the draft of chapter two. Honestly, I just felt really uninspired and really didn't like how I wrote chapter one. But I figured I may as well edit the first chapter to be a bit better and hopefully that'll motivate me to post the second chapter! Happy new year

Also, some important things have been going on for me, and this means I can't really updated consistently. I'll post a seperate work that'll simply be important informations for people to know, so please consider checking my page for any updates to my situation.

Thank you all, have a happy new year!