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Luke probably has about an hour before the sun actually begins to set, but he’s already set up on the roof of his car in preparation for a good view.
Technically, it’s his mum’s minivan, which is unforgivable to be seen in public with, but Luke did purposefully choose to borrow it for its one redeeming quality: the sunroof.
It’s the perfect size for Luke to climb out and set up his blanket, drinks and snacks, and settle in with his feet dangling down inside, without breaking the sturdy roof like he probably would if sat on the roof of his own tiny Toyota Corolla.
When Luke looks straight ahead, he can see the showgrounds oval spread out in front of him, a ring of cars parked along the outside with trees scattered between the event sheds. When he swings to his left, he can see the entry gate and the steady stream of cars and people flooding into the showgrounds. When he turns to the right, there’s the carnival rides, jutting out from the sea of game and food trucks.
Honestly, he doesn’t need to actually look to know that that’s where all the fun is happening. It’s pretty obvious, given the constant screeching of adults and children alike. The piercing screams of terror and excitement are the louder bursts of noise, sprinkled over the constant music of the rides and voices booming through microphones, encouraging any and every passer-by that everyone’s a winner! It doesn’t take much to get a prize!
Luke sips on his lemonade and tilts his head back into the sun. It’s not so bad from a distance. At least he gets to watch all the colourful flashing lights of the rides as they spin and twist and turn their brave customers around. He can live off the second-hand nausea for now.
Sitting on the roof of his car also gives him a good vantage point to people watch from, and with his sunglasses obscuring his curious eyes from view, he can freely observe the flow of people moving towards the carnival rides, and also the ones coming back to their cars, most of them loaded with all kinds of goodies.
There’s a family heading past him now, some tired parents pushing a stroller and struggling to keep their small children from running off without them.
A group of teenagers, also heading towards the rides and food trucks, laughing and shoving at each other as they go.
A couple of girls coming back from the show, wearing thick soled boots and short skirts, but their goth style make-up is softened by the matching hats that they clearly won at a game. Luke watches the pink and blue bunny shaped ears sticking up from their heads bobbing past as they talk and laugh together, sharing a bucket of popcorn.
Luke smiles and reaches back to grab some of his chips, stuffing a few in his mouth and munching away. When he looks up again, the goth girls have moved on and now there’s a guy coming back to the cars on his own, several showbags looped around his wrist and two huge plushies trying to escape his arms.
Luke keeps watching with interest, because despite having cleaned out some game truck somewhere, this guy doesn’t seem very pleased about it. He’s grumbling and muttering something to himself as he treks over to the cars, his Adidas scuffing along the gravel and kicking up dust around his baggy cargo pants.
Once he’s close enough, Luke can hear snippets of his annoyed rant, just a few words here and there that has Luke sitting up to hear more. This situation is interesting.
“Always the third wheel… So fuckin’ gay for each other… Can you take the shit back to the car for us?… Fuckin’ assholes… Never falling in love…”
The guy stops at the car right next to Luke’s and huffs, still fighting to keep the massive plushies in his grip while he fishes car keys out of his pocket with one hand.
Luke sips on his lemonade and wonders if it would be weird to offer to help him. The guy just really looks like he’s fighting for his life with those plushies suffocating him right now, and Luke doesn’t want to become an extremely non-innocent bystander when this guy eventually passes out from lack of oxygen.
“Uh, hello. Do you need a hand there?”
The guy spins around to look up at Luke and almost drops the plushies, but somehow manages to catch the cat shaped one by the tail before it meets its demise in the gravel below.
“Oh!”
All Luke can see is short dark hair and a pair of sunnies peeking out over the top of a boba tea shaped plushie. The straw is literally poking the guy in the cheek, muffling his voice slightly until he hooks his chin over the top.
“Hi! I didn’t see you up there.” The guy looks down at the stuffed toys and showbags weighing him down, then back up at Luke, considering for a moment. “Um. Maybe you could grab this plushie off top so I can get my keys, if that’s okay?”
Luke nods enthusiastically. He literally has nothing better to do than to hold people show prizes for them, seeing as he has none of his own. “Yeah, of course!”
The guy smiles, his cheeks squishing up cutely as he edges over to Luke’s minivan, and Luke leans over the side so he can grab the boba tea plushie by the straw and carefully pull it out of his arms, making sure he doesn’t send anything else toppling to the ground.
The guy smiles gratefully. “Thank you. I can breathe again.”
He smiles in relief and uses his now free hand to yank his keys out of his pocket and unlock the car, flinging open the boot and dumping his load of goods into the back.
Luke carefully holds the boba tea plushie, poking at the soft material, until the guy comes back over and smiles up at Luke, holding out his arms for the plushie.
“Thanks man. I owe you one.”
“No problem.” Luke tosses the plushie down and the guy catches it easily, but he doesn’t back away immediately like Luke expected, so he takes a chance and offers him a sunny smile. “I’m Luke, by the way. Resident plushie saviour.”
The guy smiles back and hugs the plushie to his chest, arms wrapped around it tightly until the straw of the boba tea is poking him in the chin again.
“Nice to meet you, Luke. I’m Calum. Resident, um, third wheel plushie hoarder?” Calum laughs immediately after he says it, shaking his head at himself.
Luke grins, delighted by how cute this guy is. And how large his biceps are, squishing the plushie between them.
“Well, nice to meet you too, Calum. Plushie hoarding and third wheeling sound like noble professions,” Luke jokes, leaning back on one hand and scooping up his lemonade again to take a sip.
He squints into the sun, watching Calum chuckle quietly and take a few steps back, tossing the plushie into the back of his car and closing the boot.
“I would love to agree, but it’s sadly all against my will.” Calum leans against the side of his car, crossing his arms and tipping his head back so he can see Luke.
Luke pouts sympathetically. “Did your friends ditch you so they can drink slushies and make out at the top of the ferris wheel without you?”
Calum sighs, and his lips twitch like he’s fighting a smile, but it’s hard to tell with his eyes obscured by his sunnies.
“Yeah, they did. I knew it was bound to happen but I’m still moping about it.”
Luke smiles and nods, pleased to have figured out more of Calum’s situation. This is by far the most interesting conversation his people watching habits have led him to.
“Well, sounds like you walked right into that one I guess.” Luke’s dry delivery has Calum’s mouth falling open slightly, probably offended, which is not what Luke intended. He softens it with a smile and pushes his sunnies up into his hair so he can squint at Calum properly. The sun is slowly dipping behind a tree now anyway, so the shadow is allowing him to see without being blinded.
“I’m joking. Your friends are sickos. I don’t know why they left you.”
Calum closes his mouth and cocks his head, frowning slightly. “Thank you? I think.”
Luke lifts his plastic cup of lemonade and nods. “You’re welcome.”
“What about you then? Did you come on your own so you can’t get ditched?”
Luke can hear the smile in Calum's voice, and when he looks over to see it, Calum has pulled his sunnies off as well so Luke is left to deal with the whole of his - admittedly, very nice - face. Just out there. For Luke to see.
His brown eyes crinkle at the edges when he smiles at Luke, which is cute, and his tattooed arms are also still very much on display, the sleeves of his soft blue graphic shirt digging into his biceps with how his arms are crossed. He looks cozy. And also delicious.
Luke looks away from Calum to try and process his question, instead watching as a couple walk past with matching glittery cowboy hats on. Cute. Luke wants one.
“That’s basically it, yeah. My friend cancelled on me so I figured, why the fuck not go by myself, y’know? I can eat anything I want and also not go on all the rides that make me sick against my own will.”
Luke braves a peek back at Calum. He’s hanging onto Luke’s every word, nodding along. Okay. That’s incredibly sweet.
“But that also means I can’t actually go on any of the rides. Because they all need at least two people, and I am not putting some stranger through the ordeal of listening to me squeal my head off.”
Luke smirks into his cup when he hears Calum laugh again. He has a nice laugh, somehow. Luke has never actively thought about how to categorise laughs as ‘nice’ before. He just knows that this counts for one.
“I dunno man, I feel like getting paired up with you wouldn’t be too bad. You sound like fun.”
Luke beams at Calum, pleased by the easy compliment. “Thank you. I do try to liven things up. I’m glad you can see that.”
Calum grins and shakes his head disbelievingly. “He says, while being the only person sitting on the roof of their car instead of playing games and going on rides.”
“You make a good point. Feasting on fairy floss all alone isn’t living it up to the best of my abilities.”
Luke looks back over at Calum, admiring the way the low sun is lighting up the side of his arm and his face, turning the dark shade of his hair into a warm, fiery brown, similar to his eyes actually. They’re basically glowing in the sunlight, which Luke can see even from the roof of his car. Insane.
Calum shifts around a little, probably uncomfortable with Luke staring at him like that. Luke really needs to get a grip.
“I have an idea,” Luke blurts.
Calum blinks up at him, curious. “Yeah?”
“Did you want to go on some of the rides, too?” Luke asks, a crazy rush of thoughts running through his head.
They’re both alone. They need partners to go on rides, basically speaking. There’s a possible solution here.
Calum nods slowly. “Yeah,” he says again, and Luke lets him think about it for a moment. He can actually see the moment the realisation hits Calum. His mouth drops open and he raises his eyebrows, pointing a questioning finger at Luke. “You think we could…?”
Luke nods, biting down on his excited smile so he can deliver another joke. “Yes. We could gang up on your friends and make them pay for ditching you, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”
Calum laughs brightly, cheeks squishing up and eyes crinkling in a way that is a little too cute for Luke to handle.
“Or, we can go on the fun rides together,” Calum says, then rushes to clarify, “Not the throwing-up ones! Just the nice ones.”
Oh, this is going so smoothly. Luke mentally pats himself on the back. Well done! This cute guy wants to go on carnival rides with you! Woohoo!
“Absolutely. Just the fun ones. I wouldn’t want to throw up on a cute guy that kindly offered to chaperone my carnival ride experiences.”
Calum presses his tongue against the back of his teeth to try and stifle his pleased laughter but it still bubbles up and out, stirring up something warm in Luke’s chest. He likes making Calum laugh. He’s so sweet about Luke’s stupid jokes.
Luke doesn’t waste time hoping down into his minivan, standing on the seats so his head is still poking out enough to see Calum. He’s watching him with interest. Minivans with sunroofs are rare, Luke knows this. He did not think this would be the vehicle he would pull a guy with, honestly. Minivans deserve more credit.
“One moment. I need to stash my fairy floss.”
Lukes grabs all his snacks and throws them inside and pulls the blanket in with himself as he folds up into the car and presses the button to close the roof, then opens the door and unfolds himself all over again. He’s getting good at this. Soon, he won’t even be hitting his head on the edge of the door frame every time he gets into the driver's seat.
Calum watches Luke stumble out of the minivan, extremely inelegantly, and when he comes to a stop, he’s standing right in front of Calum. He looks over Luke’s outfit, a cozy brown jumper that is actually from the women’s section (which he’s not ashamed of, but he doesn’t exactly feel the need to lead every conversation with that fact), paired with his usual slacks and Converse, and nods approvingly.
Something about the press of his lips and tilt of his head suggest that Calum is struggling to put words together, but he settles on a simple, “You’re tall.”
Luke shrugs and smiles, then spins around so he can grab his phone and keys out of the car, stuffing them in his pocket while he says, “I actually gain one centimetre every time I tell a joke that hits. It’s my secret superpower.”
Calum laughs in delighted bewilderment, watching Luke gather his stuff and mirror Calum’s pose, leaning against the side of his car. “Damn, you must have told some good jokes then.”
Luke bops his head side to side in consideration. “I think it’s more about figuring out the audience. The definition of a ‘good joke’ is pretty loose on its own.”
Calum nods in agreement, then pushes off the side of his car and opens the side door, sticking his arm in and coming back out with a soft blue hoodie in his hand. It’s like a magic trick, pulling a bunny out of a hat.
He shrugs it on over his head and slips his phone and keys into the front pocket, even though he has about a thousand pockets to choose from on these cargo pants, and he gestures towards the screaming children and flashing lights of the carnival rides.
“Wanna set off on our adventure, plushie saviour?”
Calum smiles, all warm and squishy, just like the inside of Luke's chest at the moment. He grins and gives Calum an enthusiastic double thumbs up.
“Let's go!”
︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶
Luke discovers that they make a pretty good team, wading through the crowds together. Luke is obviously tall enough to just see straight over everyone’s heads and keep an eye on where Calum is at any given moment, and he learns that Calum is very good at ducking and weaving his way through crowds. He’s fast, without disturbing anyone or getting in their way, and Luke is good at following his every move.
With these two skills combined, they make quick work of dancing their way past the showbag trucks, holding onto each other’s sleeves until they get to where the rides are, the bass of the deafening music vibrating in Luke’s chest.
“What about this one?” Calum leans closer so he can yell it in Luke’s ear, and points to the ride that Luke has had his eye on all afternoon actually.
It’s the tallest ride at the show, but the height seems bearable because there’s no violent flinging involved. It’s just a ring of seats spaced around the large column in the centre, all hanging from what are hopefully extremely sturdy chains. Luke has seen it spinning around all the way from the roof of his van.
Luke leans even closer and clings to Calum’s arm, letting the excitement show in his eyes. Calum grins right back at him. From up close, Luke notices a few moles dotted along his cheek. Also unbearably cute. “Can we? It looks fun!”
It does look like fun, but not enough to make Luke throw up, which is key.
He lets Calum drag him over to the ticket booth, paying the two person admission which is cheaper than individual, given that the seats are grouped into pairs. Good thing they can do this together then.
They wait in the short line to be let on, and Luke watches with fascination as Calum stashes his phone in one of his cargo pants pockets, then his keys in another one, fastening the buttons so his stuff doesn’t get dropped from several metres up in the air when they’re on this ride.
Calum catches him watching and smiles. Luke points at his pockets and leans close to shout, “Smart!”
Luke can’t really hear him but he can see his mouth shaping around the words, I know right . The music and the people and the microphone voices are so fucking loud, it’s insane.
Then Calum steps closer, tilting his head against Luke’s. “The sun’s setting! We’re gonna get a good view.”
Calum points up at their ride and Luke looks up, noting the purple haze starting to spread over the sky, making the colourful lights of the ride pop brightly.
Luke smiles but doesn’t get a chance to reply before the line is moving, and he follows Calum up the steps and gets settled in some seats that were clearly not designed for two fully grown men. It’s a tight squeeze but they make it work, laughing at the absurdity of it.
Calum is sitting on Luke’s right, their shoulders pressed together as the ride starts moving slowly, spinning them forward as the chairs rise steadily. One of the girls in front of them shrieks, and her friend laughs loudly, letting go of the safety bar and kicking her legs out. Brave. Luke could never.
Luke smiles at them, then looks over at Calum. He’s gripping the bar pretty tightly. Luke realises he has two tattoos on his hands, what look like letters nestled in the soft spot between his thumb and index finger.
Now that there’s a little bit of distance between them and the ground, it’s a bit easier to hear each other talk. Calum is staring straight ahead, eyes on the seat in front of them, a few metres away in the air, then he bites his lip and looks over at Luke, wide eyed. “Is this a bad time to tell you that I’m scared of heights?”
Luke panics a little. The ride is going faster and faster, and they’re almost at the top now, the force of the spinning pushing him more against Calum’s side. “What the fuck? Why did you suggest this ride then?”
Then he sees the spark of mischief in his eyes, and Calum releases his lip so he can cackle. “I’m messing with you, Luke! God, your face though. So worth it.”
Luke gapes at him for a moment before joining in, laughing in pure relief. “Oh my god. You really had me for a second. Fuck.”
Calum laughs and kicks his legs a little, whooping happily.
They must be spinning at full speed now that they’re at the top, which only makes Luke a little nauseous if he looks down at the blurry ground for too long, so he focuses on the skyline instead. Calum was right, they chose a good time to get a good view of the sun setting in the distance. The warm colours are splashed over everything, painting drawn out shadows of the rides and trucks clustered together on the ground, dripping vibrant shades of rose and peach over the low hanging clouds in the sky.
Each rotation throws them in alternating shade and light, and Luke watches the way Calum’s eyes quite literally light up, turning golden in the sunlight then fading back to warm brown in the shadows, then back to gold again, over and over.
Calum is looking at everything at once, gaze darting all over the place until it lands on Luke, and he's smiling bright enough to combat the setting sun right now.
"This is so fun!" His words and laughter get pulled away by the wind, but Luke still catches them before they disappear. He nods his agreement and tips his head back, savouring the cool breeze and the constant motion that somehow feels blurry between his eyes, even when they’re closed.
The ride is over sooner than Luke expected, the spinning slowing down as they get lowered back to safety.
Luke is struggling to walk in a straight line and Calum isn’t much better off, but he still grabs Luke’s hand to guide him off the ride and straight back into the moving crowd of people.
Calum doesn’t let go of Luke’s hand. His fingertips are cold but his palm is warm, pressed against Luke’s. He pulls them to the side of the walkway, tucked against the side of a duck pond game and asks, “Where to now?”
He’s standing really close, blinking up at Luke.
Luke is staring directly at his lips. He’s usually more subtle than this, but Calum has noticeably nice lips. Plump and soft-looking. Highly biteable, in Luke’s humble opinion.
“Uhm, I dunno. Do you wanna walk around and see what other rides there are? Then we can eat lots of food afterwards, without throwing it up?”
Calum nods. The movement puts his face even closer to Luke’s for a few beats, and Luke is seriously contemplating kissing a guy he basically just met. He’s not usually like this, but Calum is so sweet. And cute. And has really nice lips.
It’s a lot to deal with.
“That sounds good. I think I saw dodgem cars here somewhere. I wanna beat your ass at that.”
Calum smirks and keeps holding Luke’s hand when they dive back into the crowd. Luke is a bit off his game at the moment. He’s having moments of speechlessness, which should be worrying, because he always has something to say.
He decides to blame it on the environment, not the company he’s keeping. It’s loud here! Hard to talk! Luke’s mind is working perfectly fine, he’s just lapsing into stunned silence because of over stimulation, or something.
Luke keeps his eyes on the back of Calum’s head as they move past more vomit-inducing rides, staring at the swirls of his short hair twisting in different directions, being lit up every now and then when they pass through stripes of warm sunlight, shining low through the gaps in the trucks.
He really wants to touch it. But he probably shouldn’t.
︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶
They stumble out of the dodgem cars laughing and yelling at each other. It was a violent round, and Luke has a reputation to defend.
“No one can win, Calum, that’s not how it works?”
“You’re only saying that because you lost. I fucking whooped your ass and now your salty about it.”
He’s laughing as he says it, and so is Luke. They both collapse in a fit of giggles, clutching each other’s arms as they stumble to the side of the walkway again, Luke’s hand falling on Calum’s waist to keep him upright and close by his side so they’re not in anyone’s way. Obviously, that is the only reason he does it.
It’s definitely not because the need to touch Calum, in some way, still hasn’t gone away. Not even a little bit. Or that his hoodie is super soft and cozy. It really has been calling to Luke ever since he put it on.
Calum must not feel any reservations about touching Luke though, because as soon as Luke’s hand is on his waist, he’s flinging his arm around Luke’s shoulder and smiling at him, squishy and happy and really fucking cute. It’s honestly a little distressing for Luke. His cuteness is overwhelming at moments.
“Okay, I’ll admit you did beat my ass,” Luke says, and Calum’s mouth falls open in delighted surprise. “I was off my game a little. And I’m used to driving a fuckin’ minivan, not a bumper car.”
Calum nods, mock serious. His fingers skate along the back of Luke’s collar, dipping under to tuck the tag of his jumper back in, then continuing along the back of Luke’s neck. All this, while also talking at the same time.
“I see. Well. I think you’ll have to win me a prize to make us even.” Calum points at the game truck over the way, with massive stuffed toys displayed on the wall behind and a few buckets lined up along the bottom. Luke watches as a kid throws a ball into the bucket and it immediately bounces right out, and the guy running the game gives him a sympathetic pout. No prize for that poor kid.
Luke looks back at Calum, lifting an eyebrow. “Do I look like I have any chance of winning that?”
“Well, you do look like you could potentially be good at handling balls.” Calum smirks, his hand gently kneading Luke’s shoulder, but doesn’t let Luke reply with the inevitable joke before he barrels on, pointing a finger at the massive rack of toys. “I want that sloth.”
Luke’s head is spinning, getting lost in the reflections of bright lights in Calum’s eyes, the adorable crinkles that appear every time he smiles, and the faintest hint of a dimple that sometimes shows - but only when he smiles wide enough.
And his hand. Mostly it’s his hand. Touching Luke. Burning through the layers of clothes, searing fingerprints along his collarbone.
When Luke finally drags his eyes away from Calum’s face to see the prize he’s pointing out, he lets his jaw drop for dramatic effect. “That sloth is bigger than a child."
Calum laughs brightly, tipping his head against Luke’s shoulder, and Luke has no idea what to do for a moment. He figures it wouldn’t be too scandalous to rest his head against Calum’s for a second.
His short hair looks spikey from a distance but it’s surprisingly soft when it’s pressed against Luke’s cheek. Luke would love to stay there forever, partially hugging Calum and nuzzling into his hair, but he’s afraid of what that might do to the warm squishy feeling in his chest. It keeps growing and growing, stretching out like gum being snapped between teeth, like cooked popcorn bubbling over into the machine, hot and ready to be scooped into red-and-white striped boxes.
“Come on,” Luke finally says, stepping out of Calum’s grip before he melts onto the pavement. “We’ve got a sloth to win.”
︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶
Two rounds of the game later, Calum is carrying his monstrous sloth around proudly, his pleased grin half hidden behind the fuzzy sloth head.
Luke shakes his head fondly, realising that they’re back to stage one of how they met. Except this time, Luke won that prize for him.
Admittedly, he won it after failing the first round of the game and only getting a small keychain as consolation, then perfecting his throwing technique enough to smash the second round and get his choice of the best prizes. Still. He got there in the end.
Calum was a great cheer squad on his own, pumping his fists and whooping every time Luke successfully landed a ball in the bucket without it bouncing right back out again.
“Have you named him yet?” Luke asks, pointing at Calum’s sloth. He can only just see him shake his head.
“Nope. I’m thinking Steve could suit him though. Steve the Sloth.”
Luke reigns in his laughter so he can contemplate, nodding seriously. “You might be right. He’s got a very sweet face. Something about those pleading eyes really is giving Steve the Sloth vibes.”
Calum cackles loudly, squeezing the newly named Steve against his chest and tilting towards Luke, and Luke grins, happy to have made him laugh.
“You’re so full of shit, Luke. I love it.”
Luke aims his flushed smile down at the ground to deal with the honest compliment as they keep walking, dodging stray chips and melted ice cream littering the footpath and wandering down to where the showbag trucks are, automatically stopping at the side together.
The sun has truly disappeared now, leaving a purple and blue sky shimmering over the bright lights of the carnival. Deep purple, like the colour of a bruise. Or the colour of Luke’s tongue after he drinks grape Fanta.
Calum crowds in close to Luke’s side to make room for people moving past, which means they’re both being smothered by fuzzy sloth limbs now, and Luke would be wildly uncomfortable about Steve’s massive eyes boring into his soul from so close if it was anyone but Calum holding him.
Luke blinks in surprise as soon as he thinks it. When did Calum become so special that he gets exclusive personal-space-invading privileges?
“Do you wanna get some showbags? Or at least one, so we have something to snack on?” Calum pokes his head around Steve’s, peering over the crowd at the trucks down along the way. Thank god the music is quieter down this end. They don’t even have to yell that much anymore. “They all seem to have the same stuff I think.”
Luke looks at Calum’s hands, crossed over Steve’s middle to keep him secure. There’s pastel green nail polish decorating his fingers, slightly chipped around the edges, and Luke finally figures out that the tattoos are letters, now that he can see them from up close. Also, he has really nice hands. Objectively speaking. Which is fine with Luke.
Calum looks back at Luke questioningly, waiting for his answer. Right. Stop gawking, Luke. Focus.
“Showbags! Sure. My teeth could definitely use a little more rotting. What were you thinking of getting?”
Calum squints at Luke, like he’s trying to figure out a difficult maths problem without using a calculator. He probably noticed Luke zoning out, staring directly at his hands. Which, Luke will admit, is slightly weird.
Luke panics internally and quickly pulls a wacky face back at Calum, scrunching his mouth to one side and wiggling his eyebrows. It successfully wipes the assessing look off Calum’s face, replacing it with another painfully squishy smile. He shakes his head and nods over at the showbag truck.
“There’s a cheap Trolli bag over there. I’m thinking that and a huge ass bucket of fairy floss will do it for me.”
Luke nods, scanning the range of showbags on display. “You don’t want The Mandalorian themed one? With a little Grogu plushie? Oh my god, it has a lightsaber and all.”
Calum spins Steve around so he’s hanging from Calum’s hip, side-stepping closer to Luke to see where he’s pointing. “Fuck me. You need a lightsaber, Luke.”
He’s standing really close. Luke can’t bear to look at him from this distance, he may actually just explode.
“I do. A green one, to suit my on-screen persona.”
Calum laughs, knocking his head against Luke’s shoulder for a moment, then pulling back to rest his chin there instead, massive brown eyes blinking up at Luke from his peripheral vision. He can’t just not look at Calum now.
Luke is worried that he makes a weird gasp noise when he turns to face Calum. His nose is extremely close to Calum’s, and he’s not quite going cross eyed, but his whole vision is filled with just Calum’s face, mainly his eyes with crinkles showing around the edges and his bushy eyebrows.
“Your eye’s look a lot like Steve’s right now,” Luke mumbles, scared to move too much in case his lips somehow end up touching Calum’s. Of course, as soon as he thinks it, his gaze dips to Calum’s lips, which are curved into a pleased smile.
“You’re saying I look like a massive sloth, Luke? So charming.” Calum’s voice is smooth, if a little breathy, and Luke honestly can’t tell if he’s joking or not. He doesn’t know if he wants him to be joking or not.
A pram gets pushed past, dangerously close to Luke’s toes, so he jumps out of the way, putting himself a safe distance from the pram and Calum’s very kissable lips.
Calum is still smiling at him, something warm in his gaze melting Luke’s insides all over again. He shakes his head to clear his mind and points at the showbags.
“I’ll buy these, if you wait here?” Luke steps close to brush past Calum, smiling and tugging on Steve’s fuzzy arm. “Don’t want to knock someone out with this weapon.”
Luke can hear Calum’s laughter over the noise of the crowd as he darts away. It’s wild how it already feels like a familiar sound to Luke, like he’s been the cause of that laughter since, like, forever.
Luke should probably be worrying about that more than he is, but it’s such a nice feeling. He’s not going to think himself out of it just yet.
︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶
They end up buying another Cadbury showbag and a bucket of fairy floss, and they debate getting a coffee when they pass a little coffee van, but instead settle on getting hot chocolates, figuring that a caffeine and sugar hit at the same time probably isn’t the best idea.
While they wait in line, Luke suggests that they go back to the car with all their stuff so they can settle in and get ready to watch the fireworks from the roof of Luke’s van. Calum deems this a smart move. No one is immune to the power of a sunroof, apparently. Luke mentally makes note of this for future reference.
They set off as soon as they collect their drinks, walking away from all the colourful lights and loud people.
The short trek back to the carpark curves along the edge of the showgrounds oval, hidden in the shadows of the stadium lights that are blinding every time Luke accidentally looks right at them.
Calum is still carrying Steve the Sloth and his bucket of fairy floss in one arm, his hot chocolate in the other, while Luke balances the showbags and his own hot chocolate.
“We’re gonna have the same problem trying to get my keys out of my pocket now, aren’t we?”
Calum snickers and they keep walking, past some teengers sitting in a circle on the ground, all talking loudly over each other. The pavement gives way to the gravel of the carpark now, crunching under their feet and kicking up dust that Luke can’t actually see, but he can imagine it swirling around them.
“You’re probably right. But we managed last time, so I’m sure we can do it again.”
“You might be missing the fact that my hands are also full this time. How am I meant to commit to my role of plushie saviour?” Luke pouts over at Calum, tilting his head at the same time.
Calum smiles down at his shoes and shakes his head, then looks back up at Luke again. His face is hard to focus on in the shadows with his back to the light, but Luke can still see that look shining in his eyes.
It looks a lot like fondness, which is equally thrilling and terrifying.
It’s certainly more fondness than is needed for Luke’s nonsense comments, but still. Luke understands, and kind of feels the same way. Not many people are so willing to put up with his shit as Calum is. He could get really fond and also probably emo about it if he let himself think about it for too long.
Luke is so distracted by his thoughts that he almost misses his van completely. He has to stop walking and abruptly spin around without spilling his hot chocolate, purposefully being dorky about it so Calum thinks it’s just Luke being a weirdo, not Luke getting distracted for illogical reasons.
Reasons, like: preemptively missing a guy he barely knows. And his laugh. And his fun cargo pants with too many pockets.
“We’re here! Now the struggles begin.”
Luke looks down at his pocket like he can suddenly gain his Jedi powers and use the force to unlock his car, but alas. Buying a showbag with a lightsaber in it didn’t magically unlock his abilities.
He’s so focussed on pouting down at his pocket that he didn’t even notice Calum putting his hot chocolate down on the roof of his own car, like a fucking normal person with a functioning brain, and then walking over to stand beside Luke, pointing at his pocket.
“You want some help with that?”
He’s standing really close again. Luke’s eyes choose to zone in on the moles on his cheek when he says, “Go for it.” He even pushes his hips out further, tipping to the side a bit so Calum can carefully shove his hand in Luke’s pocket and pull his keys out. It’s fast. It’s a normal thing to do. He’s just helping out.
It’s not Luke's fault that his brain is going all fuzzy, staring at Calum’s moles dotted along his very squishy, very kissable cheek. Which is right next to his very kissable lips.
Calum unlocks the van with a quiet click, then takes a step back to open the side door so he can toss the keys onto the seat. Luke is still just standing there, watching him, before his brain decides to reinhabit his body and he registers the weight of the showbags in one hand and the heat of his takeaway cup in the other.
“Thank you. You’ve returned the favour! You won’t have to repay me with your firstborn anymore.”
Calum tries to hide his surprised laughter by pressing his tongue against the back of his teeth, but it doesn’t work. Luke grins at him trying all the same though, and he steps around Calum so he can dump the showbags onto the van’s seat before his arm falls off. The bags are deceptively heavy, despite their compact size.
“That’s great news. Thank goodness. I’m so relieved.”
Calum’s voice is quiet, and he hesitates at the door of Luke’s van, watching as Luke takes a sip of his hot chocolate. It’s finally cool enough to not immediately burn the tip of his tongue like he did earlier. He takes a big gulp of it now that he can.
“You still wanna watch the fireworks from the roof? I promise it’s structurally sound, if a little on the small side. We could make it work.”
Luke offers Calum a hopeful smile, not pushing it, but feeling fairly confident that Calum will take him up on it. The lure of a sunroof view is pretty tempting.
Calum smiles, a little shy almost. “You sure you’re okay with that? I don’t wanna ruin your vibe here or anything.”
Luke raises his eyebrows, as if to say are you for real? “Please. You’ve done nothing but add to the vibe all night, Calum.”
He spins around and folds himself into the minivan, pressing the button to slide the roof open as he encourages, “Come on. The view’s better up here. And who knows, there might be a hot stranger looking for some help.”
Luke smiles slyly as Calum ducks his head. It’s too dark for Luke to see if he’s blushing, but that’s probably for the best. Luke would be truly insufferable if he knew that he had that much effect over Calum.
Kneeling on the seats so he can grab his blanket, Luke then carefully stands so his head is poking through the sunroof. He places his takeaway cup on the roof then sets to work spreading his blanket out for them to sit on. When he peers over the edge of the roof to see Calum, he’s still just standing there, watching Luke with a soft smile on his face.
“Is there room for Steve up there?”
Luke huffs out a laugh through his nose, pretending to assess the small space for a moment before he shakes his head at Calum. “Sorry. There’s not much room to play with up here. He might have to sit this one out.”
Calum backs away the few steps to his car and fishes his keys out of his pocket. “All good. He can take a nap in the car. You want me to bring the fairy floss up there?”
Luke smiles. “Hell fucking yeah! The more sugar the merrier.”
It doesn’t take long for Luke to haul all his snacks up onto the roof, arranging them safely behind the blanket on the roof, and along the spare strip in front of the sunroof as well. He hauls himself up to sit on the blanket, then gestures for Calum to follow him up.
Calum is a little uncertain as he scoots onto the seats in the van first, then tentatively steps up on the seats, like they’re going to break right underneath him or something. It’s a small sunroof, and neither of them are especially small humans, so Calum is pretty close as he cringes at the roof, putting his hot chocolate next to Luke’s and shaking out his hands.
“How the fuck did you make it look so easy? What if I break something? I don’t want to dint your roof, Luke-”
“Oh hush.” Luke gently grabs Calum’s arm to direct him, spinning him around and putting his hand flat against the roof. His skin is still warm, somehow. “Now put your foot on the back of the seat and push. You’re not gonna break anything. And I won’t sue you if you somehow do anyway.”
Calum laughs despite himself and listens to Luke’s instruction, pushing himself up easily and settling in with his thigh pressed against Luke’s, shoulder to shoulder, Luke’s hand still resting on his arm. He’s really close. It seems to be a habit of his, just ending up in Luke’s space and surprising him, even when he technically was prepared for it to happen.
“Hi.” Luke smiles, loving the way Calum grins right back at him. He’s clearly relieved.
“Hi! I didn’t break anything.”
Luke nods once, stopping abruptly when he sees just how close the movement puts his face to Calum’s. He goes to scoot backwards to put some space between them, but then he realises. There’s nowhere for him to go.
They’re sitting side by side as it is, and if one of them moves too much, they’re probably going to fall off the fucking roof. So Luke just settles on leaning back and taking his hand off Calum’s arm, putting as much room between them as he can. There’s no escaping the warmth of his thigh pressed against Luke’s though.
“No, you didn’t break anything. Made it look easy.” Luke repeats his line back to Calum with a smirk.
Calum’s crooked smile twists at something in Luke’s chest, creating this strange, sticky tension, like fairy floss being pulled apart, but not quite to the point of breaking. Luke can’t understand the feeling, but he certainly doesn’t hate it.
“Do you know when the fireworks start?”
The sound of Calum’s voice breaks through the lull of distant music and excited screams. Luke blinks out the haze in his mind, eyes bringing Calum’s moving lips back into focus again.
“Oh. Um, nine? I think.”
Luke checks his phone for the time, careful not to fling it off the roof as he wiggles it out of his pocket. “Yep. Half an hour.”
Luke side eyes Calum’s cargo pants, noting the outline of his phone safely nestled in the pocket against his thigh, and he reaches over to tap his knuckle against it as he slides his own phone between his thighs for safe keeping.
“I’m starting to think I need to get myself some cargos. You have so much storage here.”
Calum laughs, nudging his shoulder against Luke’s. “It’s my secret weapon. You have your jokes and subsequent, ever-growing height.” A theatrical hand flourish. “And I have my endless storage.”
He smiles and does a little shimmy, knocking his shoulder against Luke’s again. It’s a gentle touch but something about it makes Luke want to wrap his arms around Calum and squeeze him really hard, like he’s the endangered plushie that needs to be held this time.
It’s strange, how fast the need to hug Calum has crept into Luke’s mind. Luke always knew he was a touchy guy but damn. Calum has grown on him fast.
“Sounds fair to me. I can reach all the highest prizes and showbags, then you can carry them around for me. Teamwork.”
Luke holds his hand up for a high five. There’s a satisfying clap when their hands collide, and Luke bravely fights off the urge to hold Calum’s hand and rub it between his own to warm it up. It’s only getting colder out here now that the sun is gone.
Calum picks up his hot chocolate from where he carefully set it on the roof before, drinking it eagerly now that it’s cooled down enough. Luke watches the way he alternates hands, holding the cup in one while he pulls the sleeve of his hoodie down over his knuckles, then switching to do the other hand, settling with his sweater-paws cradling his cup and his curious eyes flicking up to meet Luke’s.
“Will you feed me gummy bears, please?” Calum smiles sweetly after he asks. Luke resists the urge to dive headfirst off the roof.
“Because you just wrapped your hands up so well?” Luke asks, and Calum nods.
Luke sighs, indulging himself for a moment as he closes his eyes and takes a breath. His brain is going haywire, sitting so close to Calum with their sides pressed against each other, while his mind goes on a journey to mentally picture feeding Calum gummy bears.
It should be cute. Feeding him gummy bears is a nice, sweet, innocent thing to do. It just doesn’t feel quite so innocent when Luke starts picturing his fingers anywhere near Calum’s mouth.
Luke shakes his head like he can dislodge his own thoughts, but they’re still there when he opens his eyes and looks at Calum.
The way he’s sitting there, swinging his feet a little, cradling his hot chocolate in his hoodie-covered hands and smiling softly - it’s all very cute.
Then the soft smile turns into more of a smirk. Calum tilts his head, eyes shining when he gives Luke an assessing look, like he can see directly into Luke’s mind. Like he knows exactly what Luke is thinking about his lips. And his hands.
“Gummy bears,” Luke repeats, quite possibly in a trance as he tries to get his brain back online. He reaches back to grab the Trolli showbag off the roof behind them and hauls it into his lap, poking through the funky shaped lollies to find the gummy bears. There’s more packed into the small bag than Luke would have guessed. He rifles through it, flicking the mini hotdogs and sour worms and fries out of the way.
“Are the gummy bears your favourite?” Luke asks, but Calum doesn’t have time to reply before Luke exclaims, “Oh, they have little pizzas in here!”
Calum leans closer so he can see inside the bag as well, letting out a delighted “oh!” when he sees the tiny pizza shaped treat in Luke’s hand. “That’s adorable. Forget the bears, I wanna eat a miniature pizza please.”
“On it boss.” Luke starts ripping into the packaging with calculated violence. There’s a balance between enough force to tear the plastic, but not too much force to send the tiny pizza flying off the roof of the car when it opens unexpectedly.
“So no,” Calum says out of nowhere. “To answer your question, I don’t think gummy bears are actually my favourite. But they are dependably good, even if they’re not the best thing in the showbag.”
Luke nods, thinking it over as he frees the little tray of pizza from its plastic prison. He looks up to see a woman in a pink hoodie pushing a pram past, a toddler trudging along beside her while a massive whale shaped plushie gets a nice ride in the pram. Good for the whale.
“Yeah, that makes sense. They’re a safe bet. I think my favourite from this showbag would have to be the hotdog.”
Luke smirks as he says it, offering both the tray and the set up for a great joke to Calum, before he remembers he’s supposed to be feeding it to him. He sighs at the knowing gleam in Calum’s eyes.
“Open up, Cal Pal. It’s pizza time.”
Calum laughs, basically wheezing. “Cal Pal? That’s a new one. I like it.”
He’s somehow still smiling wide as he sticks his tongue out and tips his head back, eyes closed, waiting for his pizza delivery. Luke takes more care than he needs to, holding the tiny slice between two fingers and delicately balancing it on Calum’s tongue instead of just throwing it into his mouth. He will not let Calum accidently choke on his tiny pizza. Certain other things, though…
Luke’s brain crackles into static. Wow. Too many thoughts.
Calum seems to appreciate the effort. He flicks his tongue back into his mouth and chews thoughtfully, bopping his head side to side.
“They’re very small.” A shrug, shoulders bumping. “You try one.”
“Are you always like this?” The words fall out of Luke’s mouth without his brain's approval. What the fuck.
Calum cocks his head, frowning slightly. “Like what?”
Luke can feel Calum watching his movements as he selects a slice of pizza with an exceptionally large blob of red on top. Tiny fake salami. Amazing. He shoves it in his mouth without thinking too much, then starts talking. Probably could have done the talking first but it’s too late now.
“I dunno, like-” Luke gestures vaguely, trying to physically grasp the words that his brain won’t produce. He finally swallows his tiny pizza. Calum was right, they’re very small.
“I mean, would you have agreed to do all this with just anyone?” Luke surprises himself with his own question, running back over the words in his head to make sure that he actually said what he meant. And yeah, that really is what has been poking at the back of his mind the most. He risks a glance over at Calum to gauge his reaction.
He’s looking directly at Luke’s mouth. Nice.
“No.” Calum doesn’t think about it for long, he just says it, then bops his head side to side in consideration. Luke watches, blindly grabbing another slice of pizza to pop in his mouth.
There’s a random streetlight a few cars down, casting soft shadows over Calum’s shoulders, competing with the shadows of the stadium lights around the oval. He’s wrapped in light and dark all over. Not a single definitive line on him.
Whenever Calum looks over at the lit up carnival rides, Luke glimpses the reflection of the lights in his dark eyes. He has to physically stop himself from leaning closer to inspect the flashes of colour blurring in and out of focus.
“I think there are a lot of people I could do all this with. But it’s hard to find people that are more fun to be with than just doing things alone, if that makes sense.”
Luke’s head spins, smooth and steady as they ride they went on earlier, sorting through Calum’s words and nodding along. “Right. And seeing as your friends ditched you-” Luke smiles and knocks Calum’s shoulder to tease him, getting an unbothered eyeroll in return- “it makes sense that you would just go run off with the first stranger you find.”
Calum laughs quietly, dimple pressing into his cheek for a heartbeat when he looks at Luke. Pink and green reflections, fading into blue and orange. The mixture of colours shining in Calum’s eyes reminds Luke of the blue and pink fairy floss sitting unopened on the roof in front of them. He swipes up the bucket and rips the lid off, inhaling the scent of pure sugar and sighing in a show of contentment.
“Y’know, it was either the plushies, or the cute guy sitting on his roof drinking lemonade. Surprisingly enough, you won.” Calum’s voice is quiet, but Luke can still hear the coy smile in his voice. Hear, because Luke is still looking down at the fairy floss, trying to hide his pleased grin.
“Damn.” Luke tames his wild grin into a more reasonable smile so he can face Calum. “I feel like the plushies deserve more credit.”
“Nope. Okay well, maybe Steve does. They others can get fucked though.”
Luke laughs loudly, leaning harder against Calum’s side without thinking about it. The showbag in his lap crinkles in protest, dangerously close to falling off his leg. He grabs it quickly and puts it back on the roof behind them as Calum smiles into the lid of his hot chocolate, tipping his head back and downing the rest of it in one go.
Luke watches his throat bobbing when he swallows. There’s a nice soft spot hiding right under his jaw. Luke doesn’t let himself consider it for long.
“So true. Steve is special."
Luke starts attempting to dissect the fairy floss with just two fingers, but the layer of blue is sticking to the pink and he’s going to make a mess. Calum’s hand, now released from its warm hoodie prison, swoops in to help him out, tugging on the other end so they both end up with a lump of fairy floss stuck to their fingers.
“Thanks. Cheers.” Luke clinks his fairy floss against Calum’s before they shove it in their mouths at the same time, laughing through the sticky deliciousness.
“Wow. I haven’t had fairy floss in so long,” Calum says, voice muffled as he talks through his mouthful. How gross, Luke thinks fondly.
“Can’t relate. I have a dietary requirement of fairy floss at least once a month.”
“Or you turn into a werewolf?”
“Exactly.”
“Ah, of course. Makes sense. Got any other dietary requirements I should know about?”
“I’ll die without coffee in the morning. Literally just pass the fuck out. You’ll never hear from me again.”
“Interesting. Maybe we should get coffee together tomorrow morning. So I can make sure you’re fulfilling your dietary requirement.”
Luke pauses with his hand mid-wipe on his pants. Watches Calum licking his fingers clean. Wonders if all this means what Luke thinks (wants) it to mean.
When Calum looks back over, he’s slowly pulling his thumb out of his mouth, putting on a show of making sure he’s thoroughly licked it clean. The red reflections in his eyes shift to violet, right as Luke is watching. And thinking. Lots of thoughts are happening.
“I think I have more dietary requirements now,” Luke says plainly, testing the waters. He’s staring at Calum’s lips again with absolutely no intention of stopping.
The corner of Calum’s mouth twitches, fighting a smile. He can’t stop the tell-tale crinkles appearing around his eyes though. They’re always giving him away the moment he even thinks about smiling.
“Really?” Calum leans forward the tiniest bit, but it feels like a lot, because they’re already so close together.
Neon reflections in his eyes, melting into buttery yellow. Luke’s insides, melting down to a puddle in his Converse.
“Yeah.” Luke can feel his heartbeat trying to escape out of his chest. He takes a deep breath to hold it in, then grins, crooked and teasing. “More fairy floss.”
“Oh.”
Calum shrinks back slightly, blinking.
Okay, maybe Luke went a bit too far. He quickly puts Calum out of his misery, rushing to add, “Off your tongue.”
Calum cackles, thumping a hand against his chest in relief. Luke is probably still grinning maniacally at him.
“Sorry, maybe I should have started with the tongue bit. Didn’t mean to confuse you.”
Calum waves him off, still choking on his laughter. “No no, it’s all good.” His waving hand ends up resting on Luke’s thigh. Luke puts his hand on top to keep it there. “That does sound like a fun way to get your fairy floss.”
He’s got the warm shine in his eyes again, warmer than the orange lights reflected in them. Then, without warning, Calum leans forward and presses a kiss to Luke’s lips.
It’s over in a heartbeat, just long enough for Luke’s stomach to flip and his breath to catch, then Calum is leaning back, smiling sweetly.
Luke is definitely smiling back. His cheeks hurt from all the laughing he’s been doing tonight, mostly because of Calum. He’s had so much more fun with Calum than he could have ever had alone.
His fingertips are tingling, itching to touch Calum, to pull him back in for another kiss, but he doesn’t get the chance to before the speakers around the showground oval crackle and an echoing voice comes through.
“Fireworks will start in a few minutes. Once the lights are turned off, we can start the ten second countdown!”
Luke blinks in surprise, turning to see the crowd gathering on the other side of the oval. He’s only noticing now how the music and yelling coming from the rides and trucks has died down significantly over the last half an hour, just a few random shrieks and crackles of microphoned voices bursting from the fluorescent haze.
All the people trickling past to find their cars in the dark have gone unnoticed by Luke too. He’s been so focussed on Calum, everything else is just a blur in the background.
Calum flexes his hand against Luke’s thigh, pulling his attention back from the bright stadium lights.
“Damn,” Calum says, shaking his head in mock-disappointment. “I didn’t time it right, with the fireworks. That could have been such a good moment.”
Luke wheezes quietly at Calum’s pout, eyeing off the moles on his cheek. He really wants to kiss them. Or poke them. Maybe both.
“It’s okay, they’re gonna do a countdown for you and everything. You’ve still got a shot to get this right,” Luke promises, patting Calum’s hand in a reassuring way, while his other hand carefully balances the fairy floss back on the roof.
He accidently knocks his foot against Calum’s in the process of leaning over to set the fairy floss down. Calum knocks his back. They start gently kicking each other, bumping knees and shoes against each other in the dark of the car.
Calum grins, teeth glinting. The reflections in his eyes are back to green and pink now. Luke imagines the blobs of colour forming a rose, pink petals and green leaves.
“Perfect,” Calum says. “Maybe we should get some practice in before then.”
The foot knocking stops. Calum angles himself so their legs are pressed together more firmly instead, locking his ankle around Luke’s to hold him there. He begins to lean closer but stops halfway, apparently letting Luke close the rest of the gap between them.
Luke can’t help smiling when he tilts his head and captures Calum’s lips in a proper kiss this time, tasting the sweetness of the fairy floss on his tongue, the anticipation and want that has been steadily building over the course of the night.
Luke brings his hand up to cradle Calum’s jaw, feeling the faintest scratch of stubble against his palm. He suddenly realises that he’s free to touch Calum’s hair, finally, so he runs his fingertips over Calum's jaw until he can lightly scratch at his scalp through his short but thick hair.
Calum gasps lightly when he does, his hand flying up to hold Luke’s shoulder, steadying both of them as he licks into Luke’s mouth with dizzying purpose.
Calum kisses the same way he cheered Luke on earlier, when Luke was trying to win him a prize. Excited hand movements. Encouraging noises. Paying attention, his focus completely on Luke.
All of it, combined, is really doing it for Luke. He has well and truly melted by the time Calum has kissed his way down the side of Luke’s neck and back up again, back to biting on his lip, nose brushing his cheek when he angles his head just so.
Luke lets Calum kiss him how he wants, giving back as much as he takes, and running his hand through Calum’s hair to hold him close, until the clunking noise of the stadium lights turning off one by one echoes over the oval.
Calum pauses, drawing back slowly and letting his hand drop back down to Luke’s thigh.
Luke’s head is spinning all over again, trying to focus on something that isn’t the feeling of Calum’s tongue in his mouth. Or his fingers brushing the side of his neck. Or the noise he made when Luke had his hand scratching through his hair.
“Wow,” is the only word that makes it out of the haze over Luke’s mind.
Calum nods, eyes wide and foggy, smiling faintly. “Yeah. Wow.”
The final light shuts off. The dim streetlight a few metres away is the only light around them now, other than the distant glow of the carnival rides and a random guy with a red lightsaber walking past. He makes some quiet zapping noises as he goes, swinging it around his side.
Calum huffs out a laugh through his nose when he sees it, his smile glinting in the dark again.
“Fireworks time!” Calum does an excited little fist pump as the crowd on the other side of the oval starts counting down. Luke grins at Calum’s excitement. He’s so fucking cute.
Luke doesn’t even think before he leans over and presses a light kiss to that soft spot under Calum’s jaw. Calum makes some unintelligible, delighted noise, and quickly turns his head to kiss Luke again before he can move away.
They both smile into it, lip on lips, and the fireworks start going off.
Calum gasps in surprise and turns to watch the fireworks in awe, jaw slack. Luke watches Calum instead. There’s all kinds of colours shining in his eyes now, bursts of light that form a mini constellation for a moment before they vanish, replaced by a new constellation in a different colour, over and over again.
The noise of the fireworks is so much louder than the music right in the centre of the carnival was. Each boom vibrates in Luke’s chest, shooting a mini shock wave through his body, all the way down to his toes and fingertips.
Calum smiles a little, mouth still open slightly, head tilted back to see the fireworks high in the sky. Luke allows himself another bass-jolted heartbeat to watch him, wondering in the back of his mind if he’ll get to keep Calum after tonight. He’s got a handful of showbags and sweet memories to keep, but he’s beginning to think that he wants more than that.