Chapter Text
Half of the time, Luke had no idea what he was doing.
See, Luke Hemmings was a nineteen year old student who had the opportunity to work four days a week while he went to school on Tuesdays; this way he could make money while he was learning how to do the job he wanted to do and he wouldn’t be dealing with the problem of not having any experience after graduation.
He worked at a rather big company that made sure buildings were heated in the winter and chilled in the summer and he was pretty sure some electricians fixed lights and stuff like that but he honestly didn’t know a lot about that kind of work.
He didn’t have to though, for he was one of the six accountants the company had.
So, maybe the company and Luke’s job were a little plain but he could honestly say he liked his work; he was made to work with his brain instead of his hands and his colleagues were so nice, it sometimes didn’t even feel like he was at work with how much fun he had with the people around him.
Luke’s desk was located in one of the offices which he shared with the five other accountants. There were two very sweet older women with short, dyed dark red hair, an older man who looked like he was about to kill someone all the time but somehow was able to smile at Luke whenever he greeted him (which was kind of a big deal since the man barely ever smiled) and a thirty year old bold man who was supposed to be in charge but who was way too kind to actually tell anybody what to do.
And then there were Luke and the twenty-four year old guy with hazel eyes and dimples in his cheeks who had graduated last year.
His name was Ashton and Luke and him had been friends since day one. Or rather since day two, when the pretty much stranger had invited the young boy to hang at his place. He had said he had done that because ‘we youngsters should stick together in a place like this’ and Luke had simply shrugged and agreed.
Luke and Ashton were just that: Luke and Ashton. They were inseparable, which was a good thing since they shared one huge desk together and were forced to literally face each other for eight hours a day, four days a week. Everybody loved them, smiled fondly at them whenever they had a silly discussion during lunch or bursted out in loud laughter because one of them pulled a face or send the other a funny picture over the email. Nobody cared though; everyone simply liked that they got along so well and that they liked their job and as long as they worked as hard and good as Luke and Ashton did, they weren’t going to tell the two young boys to stop or separate them.
“Morning” Ashton chirped from behind his computer screen on Monday morning when Luke walked into his office and plopped down on his chair.
“Good morning.” He smiled back. He and Ashton were the only ones in the office since it was still quite early.
A lot of people wondered if Ashton maybe had a bed hidden somewhere beneath his desk or anything since he usually was the first to arrive and the last to leave but the boy always said he just always had a lot of stuff to do. Luke knew that wasn’t entirely true though. Yes, Ashton was quite dedicated to his work and to this company but the reason he liked being at the office so much was because he simply got bored or lonely at home. He lived on his own, his family too far away to pay a visit regularly and he loved being surrounded by people.
“What are you doing?” He asked as he smiled fondly at his friend, whose brows were furrowed in concentration, his bottom lip trapped between his teeth.
“Oh, I’m just going through my email.” Ashton answered without looking up from his screen.
“You really should get your eyes checked.” Luke chuckled as he shook his head. It wasn’t the first time he had told Ashton this, since he had found the older boy with his nose practically pressed against his computer screen many times before.
“I don’t want glasses.” He stubbornly argued; as always.
“But you have an headache almost every day, my mum had that too until she got glasses.”
“I bet you’d look really cute with them.” He added with a wink and the colleague that just walked in giggled at that.
Luke wasn’t surprised pretty much ninety percent of their co-workers thought they were dating or would start dating sooner rather than later. They complimented each other and could be a little bit touchy feely with each other sometimes but it was nothing serious and the two boys knew that. Luke had never been afraid Ashton would think he actually meant it because it was obvious they both didn’t. They didn’t tell their colleagues this though since they weren’t bothered by the rumours, it actually had turned into some kind of game between the two of them; they loved seeing their co-workers’ faces whenever they fake flirted with each other. Ashton had kissed him on the cheek once, telling him ‘I’ll see you tonight babe’ before leaving and Luke had actually heard Helen, one of the two older ladies, telling the other she owed her twenty bucks.
“Still not gonna get my eyes checked.”
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“Fuck this shit.” Ashton groaned for the tenth time later that day.
All accountants were currently working on getting all the half year results right. They had been doing that for the last three days now, so they could present them to their management and it was the most frustrating thing Luke had ever done. And apparently he wasn’t the only one who thought so.
“I’ve been going over this list for a thousand times now and I am still missing two hundred dollars and it’s so fucking frustrating.” Ashton whined.
“You just need a break, to get away from it a bit.” Vera offered the curly haired boy with a smile and he sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I’ll get us some coffee.” He said, standing up and grabbing the tray to get all six of them a drink.
About ten minutes had passed and Ashton was still not back, and to be honest, Luke was a little curious and maybe a little worried to where he was. Sure, Ashton was the kind of guy that would stop and chat with their colleagues in the other rooms but he wasn’t the kind of guy to take a break when he wasn’t supposed to. So, Luke found himself walking over to the coffee machine to make sure Ashton hadn’t passed out or anything like that.
As he neared the canteen, he could clearly make out two voices and one of them belonged to his friend. There was no doubt about it, especially after Luke had heard his distinctive giggle, which automatically made the blonde boy smile.
The other voice, however, was one Luke had never heard before.
When he rounded the corner he found Ashton near the coffee machine, talking to a boy with pitch black hair as he was leaning against the counter. The stranger was slightly taller than the dirty-blonde but not as tall as Luke was.
“Hey Lukey.” Ashton smiled when he noticed his colleague’s presence.
“I’m sorry I didn’t come back yet, but I bumped into our new colleague here and I kinda lost track of time.” He apologized; as if Luke would care he wasn’t actually working every single second of the eight hours they were supposed to work.
“That’s okay, I just wanted to make sure you didn’t spill coffee over yourself and died.” Luke chuckled before turning his attention to the new guy.
“Hi, I’m Luke.” He told him with a polite smile as he took in his appearance. He had bright green eyes, a pale skin, some black stubble and Luke was pretty sure he wasn’t much older than Ashton and him.
“Michael.” He smiled at Luke.
“I am the new receptionist.”