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“Ah, shit.”
Luke rolled his eyes, and pulled his hands out from under the collar of Michael’s shirt. “Really?”
“What?” Michael panted softly, his mouth kiss bruised and wet.
“You’re sunburnt? Again?”
Michael smiled impishly from where he was spread out on top of Luke. “I put sunscreen on. Crystal oiled me up but I guess I forgot to reapply.”
Luke let out a sound of disgruntled disbelief and shoved Michael off of him, nudging the older man onto the messy sheets of his bed.
“Luke,” Michael sighed, rolling over onto his back and wincing when his aching shoulders made contact with his shirt.
“I told you,” Luke pointed out, getting up off the bed to pace, running his hand through his messy hair. “After last week when you got burnt, I told you to reapply.”
“And I forgot,” Michael insisted, sitting up. “Plus, now you get to rub aloe on my back.”
Luke looked over at him, at the suggestive smile on Michael’s lips, and he frowned.
“C’mon, Michael chided softly. “It’s just a stupid sunburn.”
“It’s not just a stupid sunburn,” Luke snapped, his shoulders sagging.
They were supposed to be having sex.
It’s what they both wanted, and what they both intended to do for the small amount of time they had, and Luke had been very willing – and half naked – until he discovered Michael’s burnt shoulders. And from what he could see as his boyfriend took his shirt off, he was pretty bloody burnt.
Ever since moving on from the villas, time had been harder to steal. Ashton and Calum still tried, but their accommodation was more traditional, opulent villas traded in for a hotel rooms with paper thin walls.
But Ashton had worked his magic, yet again, and gave them an hour and Luke had been more than excited to get Michael alone, but the discovery of the sunburn had thrown him.
“It’s not just the sunburn,” Michael sighed, dropping his shirt on the floor.
“No,” Luke mumbled softly, his hands on his hips, shoulders slumped. “It’s not just the sunburn.”
“What is it, then?” Michael asked softly, a concerned look on his face as he sat back against the headboard, wincing as his raw flesh touched the wood, and beckoned Luke towards him.
Luke hesitated, looking at the messy sheets and Michael’s messy hair and how he’d looked forward to time alone all morning and now he was letting the pinkness of his boyfriend’s skin ruin it.
“C’mon,” Michael mumbled.
Luke sighed and crawled back onto the bed, sitting down beside Michael. “I should be the one to put your sunscreen on.”
“Oh,” Michael said softly, reaching out to pull Luke in. “You can, if you want.”
“I can’t,” Luke sighed tiredly.
“You can.”
Luke sighed, gritting his teeth together for a moment. “No,” he insisted. “I should be the one to put it on and reapply it and to able to kiss you in front of our friends and not lie to them when we sneak off to have sex. I want to be able to love you without it having to be behind closed doors.”
Michael’s hand rested on Luke’s thigh, his fingertips grazing the tanned skin as he leant over and pressed a kiss to his temple. “Parents and family first, remember?”
That was part of the problem, Luke realized.
They’d decided they were going to do it, to go back to Sydney and sit their families down and admit to the three-year long secret they’d hidden successfully, and that it would all be out. Luke knew his mother had her suspicions, and Luke knew that he hadn’t been all that careful when they’d first moved to London and he’d spent every night in Michael’s bed, and even though they weren’t fooling around, there was love there.
His mother had smiled at him one morning when she’d come in to wake them, and Luke and Michael had been chest to chest and clinging to one another, and that’s when Luke knew she knew.
But it was different; to assume his mother knew something and just decide to go public. He owed it to his family to be honest, to admit that his bisexuality wasn’t something to be ashamed of, but that they’d just tried to keep it to themselves, especially as the fans had started to demand more and more of them, the harder they both held onto each other and insisted that their love would be the one thing they wouldn’t hand over.
But now Luke was sick of it.
Sick of hiding and pretending and putting Calum and Ashton in the middle, and now that they’d decided to be honest, Luke wanted it over with.
“Hey,” Michael whispered, leaning down to kiss Luke’s mouth gently. “We’re days away, baby. We’re going to get on that plane and go home and tell everyone and then we’re free.”
Luke sighed, crushing his eyes shut. “I know. It’s just that now we’ve decided to tell them, I want to tell everyone. I don’t want this secret stuff anymore.”
“It’s not a secret when we’re together,” Michael promised softly. “And I don’t want to waste the time we have being sad we can’t change it.”
“I know.”
Michael smiled, brushing their lips together again. “Ten days,” he mumbled softly. “Ten days before your brothers make gay jokes and ten days until my mum hugs me and tells me she knew all along.”
Luke laughed softly. “That you’re gay?”
“Nope,” Michael mumbled, his thumb sweeping over Luke’s cheekbone. “That I’m in love with you.”
Luke wasn’t sure if the swooping feeling in his stomach would ever go away whenever Michael said something sweet. He almost hoped it wouldn’t, because it would wash over him like a warm glow and he’d feel tingly from the inside out, and he could only hope that Michael felt the same, whenever Luke would stumble over his words to tell the older man he loved him.
“So stop thinking,” Michael whispered, nudging their noses together, his lips just out of reach as Luke leaned in. “Think about here and now, and how fucking humid it is and how much time we have left, okay?”
“Okay,” Luke panted out softly, feeling his worries and disappointment melt away as he was dragged back down to earth as Michael’s mouth slid against his, wet and slow, and it was easy, after that.
To forget his frustration and concentrate on the feeling of Michael’s tongue in his mouth and his hand on his thigh and how hard and fast his breaths were coming. There was nothing going through his mind but pure lust as Michael pushed him down onto the sheets and crawled on top of him, hands mapping Luke’s soft torso.
“Half an hour,” Michael whispered, kissing over Luke’s stubbled jaw.
Luke let out a soft whimper, his hands reaching up to cup Michael’s jaw, pulling him up to kiss him again. He raised his hips, pressing against Michael in a gentle, slow roll, because thinking about anything else but the feel of Michael on top of him was impossible.
“You okay from the other day?”
Luke nodded, wrapping his long legs around Michael’s hips, keeping him close.
“I went pretty hard on you,” Michael mumbled.
“Michael,” Luke sighed. “I’m trying to fucking kiss you, so can you please shut up?”
Michael laughed, pulling back to look down at the frustrated expression on Luke’s face. “I love you, you know that, right?”
Luke softened momentarily, running his fingers through Michael’s hair. “I know,” he assured the older man, lifting his head off the bed to kiss over his jaw. “And I love you, too.”
“Good, because I want you on your hands and kne-“
“Hey!”
Luke lifted his head off the bed so fast he head-butted Michael, his eyes on the door to his room as someone pounded their fist against it. He had visions of it flying open and their friends spilling inside to see them pressed together, on their way to being half-hard and mouths bruised and wet.
“Jesus,” Michael whispered, pressing his fingertips against his forehead gingerly.
“Go,” Luke whispered back, shoving gently at Michael so he could get up, picking up a t-shirt off the floor which was Michael’s, anyway.
He didn’t know who was banging, and he didn’t know what to do, but he crossed the suite quickly and opened the door an inch to see Ashton.
“Jesus,” Luke groaned, opening the door further for Ashton to slip inside. “We’re supposed to have another half hour!”
Ashton smiled guiltily and kept his back to the bed where Michael still lay, half-naked and waiting. “How about instead of a half hour, I can give you all night?”
Luke’s annoyance morphed into intrigue and he couldn’t help the feeling of elation inside him. “What?”
Ashton threw a cursory look over his shoulder at Michael before looking back at Luke. “Well,” he began, a grin stretched over his face. “You know how you guys saw that Hindu temple when we passed through Kuta at the start of our trip?”
Luke nodded slowly, not allowing himself to get even the tiniest bit excited about whatever Ashton had yet to say.
“Well, Bryana was disappointed she missed it, and everyone got to talking so we’re going to travel into Kuta tonight and stay at a cheap motel so we can see the temple tomorrow. So, that means you two can stay behind with a legitimate excuse as to why you’re not attending.”
Luke looked past Ashton to Michael, who was still on the bed and was wearing a bright, excited smile. “Are you serious?” the older man asked.
“Deadly,” Ashton nodded. “So you guys stay, and do whatever you want, and we’ll probably be back tomorrow afternoon.”
Luke felt emotion choke him suddenly. His throat closed over and he pressed his fingertips against his lips lest he actually cry, and he lurched forward to hug Ashton.
“Woah!” Ashton laughed, his hands gripping Luke’s sides for a moment before wrapping his arms around him.
“Thank you,” Luke whispered softly, his eyes crushed shut as he gripped onto Ashton’s sweaty t-shirt, balling it up in his hands.
“Hey,” Ashton said, his voice dropping to a softer tone. “It’s okay, man.”
“No, you don’t know,” Luke mumbled. “How much I’ve missed him, missed sleeping next to him.”
“Hey.”
Luke opened his eyes to see Michael standing beside them, and he quickly detached himself from Ashton and grabbed onto Michael, holding him close and pressing his face into his neck.
“You guys,” Ashton mumbled softly.
“Thank you,” Michael insisted, his arms around Luke but eyes on their friend. “It’s been really hard, you know?”
“I know,” Ashton nodded. “I get it, I really do. So just take your time and I’ll call you when we’re on our way back tomorrow.”
Michael nodded, hands slipping up underneath the t-shirt Luke was wearing and smiled gratefully.
Luke let out a soft, stuttered sigh and let go of his death grip on Michael. He felt the elation blooming inside of him and he was tempted to kiss Ashton in gratitude, but he was ducking out of the room with a wave and Luke was letting out a soft, disbelieving laugh.
“We’ve got all night,” Michael mused.
“Yeah,” Luke whispered, a grin on his face. “Why are we wasting it by standing here?”
Michael cupped his jaw, pressing their lips together in a slow, burning kiss, and Luke felt his stomach swoop once more.