Work Text:
It’s bad.
It’s a lot worse than Luke can imagine, but the weird part was, that it didn’t start until they left LA for Japan.
They’d been lulled into a false sense of security when they’d landed in Los Angeles to an open-armed welcome from their drummer, and not a single blip on the radar regarding their relationship. They’d caught up with friends, attended the G’Day USA event, and Luke spent a lot of time going down on his knees for Michael’s new blue do, but other than that, it had been smooth.
So Luke was pumped, ready for tour, to start the next chapter in their lives now they were all back together again after a well-deserved break, feeling refreshed and unbelievably excited to discover the world once again.
But it was like the entire time they were in the air, on their eleven hour flight into Japan, all hell seemed to have broken loose.
Luke had stepped of the plane somewhat congested and incredibly tired, to the excited and desperate chatter of their patient fans, and he’d pushed through to give hugs and pose for photos, but didn’t hesitate to lean into Michael the moment they were in the van and on their way to the hotel.
Checking his social media accounts wasn’t high on his priority list, and he almost forgot about it entirely until the next morning, waking up to see Ashton seated in the plush chair of his and Michael’s hotel room, dressed and freshly showered, and smelling somewhat ruggedly handsome as he flicked through a magazine that was clearly in Japanese.
Luke was confused, looking around the room to find Michael, but the other man was noticeably absent.
“Good morning!”
Luke’s frown deepened. “You’re not who I went to bed with.”
Ashton snorted, tossing the magazine onto the small coffee table beside his chair, and crossed his arms over his chest. “Clearly,” he responded wryly. “Your boyfriend is getting coffee and pastries, and it’s my job to get you out of bed.”
Luke was still confused, because he’d gone to bed the night before – if it even was night-time – with Michael’s promise of morning sex. And even though Luke loved Ashton, he really wasn’t the guy Luke wanted to see.
“We have to talk about something.”
Luke pushed himself up to a sitting position, tugging the bedding up to his waist as he stifled a yawn, looking at Ashton out of the corner of his eye. “’Bout what?”
Ashton sat forward in his seat, the easy going expression on his face long gone. “There’s…been a development.”
Luke was almost irritated, and wanted to snap at his friend. He wanted to get laid. He wanted a hot shower with Michael and that amazing blue hair, and then he wanted to eat something Japanese and avoid thinking about the exhausting schedule they were about to endure.
Instead, Ashton was looking all pensive, and as if Luke was supposed to know what the hell he was talking about.
“More,” Luke demanded flatly, running his fingers through his messy bed hair.
Ashton sighed, tugging his phone out of his pocket. “I was on twitter this morning,” he started, looking down at his phone before looking up at Luke. “And it’s…hit the fan, Luke.”
Luke clenched his teeth. “I swear, just spit it out,” he demanded.
“She’s on the warpath,” Ashton said flatly. “Tweets, snaps, Instagram posts about how she was cheated on and dumped and the fans are going ballistic.”
Luke could feel whatever carefree feeling he had in his chest, sink. All the fear he’d felt back home in Sydney, the rumors and the accusations he’d have to fend off. He thought he was free and clear, he thought this was over.
“The fans are calling bullshit,” Ashton added. “And Michael’s name hasn’t come up yet, but it might, and we need to get ahead of this.”
“Is that your advice, or managements?” Luke snapped.
They’d done the awful disclosure meeting with their management and representatives. Luke thought telling his parents would be the hardest thing about coming out, but looking at five people he didn’t really know all that well that he was gay and with Michael was ten times worse.
They’d argued for twenty minutes about the best course of action and it was mostly decided to leave it be. Michael and Luke didn’t plan on putting up a twitter status about their relationship, but they weren’t going to actively hide it in their personal time. Banding would be professional, there wouldn’t be anything to get in the way of the band, that much they were adamant.
“I’m sorry.”
Luke looked over at Ashton and sighed. “No, I’m sorry. I just…I thought she’d do the right thing, okay? But obviously not, and I mean, I do deserve it, because I did cheat…”
“Don’t say that again,” Ashton insisted. “Because you’ve been with Michael for four years now, and you were never exclusive or intimate with her. You were just private about your private life.”
Luke shoved the sheets back and tugged his legs out from underneath it, letting them fall heavily against the bed. “What do I do?”
“I spoke to Mikey and Cal,” Ashton said delicately. “We knew you might panic a bit.”
Luke smiled ruefully.
“We say, ignore it. She can say all that she wants, but you never publicly acknowledged your relationship, so why acknowledge her petty tweets? But we’re with you, a hundred percent, okay?”
Luke nodded, running his fingers through his hair again. “What if she brings up Michael?”
“Then,” Ashton began, standing from his seat to cross to the bed, sitting down beside him. “Then we go all guns blazing, because she’s not dragging your relationship through the mud, okay?”
Luke managed a weak smile, nodding his head, as the door to the hotel room popped open and Michael came into view. Luke let out a sigh that he wasn’t aware he’d kept bottled up inside of him, and resisted the urge to grab at him.
“Hey, babe,” Michael smiled, setting down a tray of coffees and a paper bag. “You okay?”
Luke nodded, and didn’t hesitate to hold his hand out to Michael when the older man didn’t immediately cross to the bed.
Michael sat, leaning over to kiss Luke’s shoulder.
“I’ll let you two talk,” Ashton said softly, reaching out to squeeze Luke’s ankle. “We’re here for you, okay bud?”
Luke nodded, and gripped Ashton’s wrist in a wordless thank you, and watched as the older man snagged one of the three coffee cups and disappeared from the room.
“You sure you’re okay?”
Luke nodded, leaning into Michael. “How bad is it?” he asked quietly. “Like, what’s she saying?”
Michael dug his phone out of his pocket and unlocked it, pressing on his twitter app. “A lot of shit about getting a broken heart, and how men can’t be trusted and that it goes to show not even one of the good guys is all that good.”
Luke’s shoulders slumped, and even though he knew the tweets were designed to hurt him – and were mostly untrue – but he still felt the responsibility and shame that came with them.
“Look, everyone knows that she’s full of shit, okay? The fans are on the warpath and defending you like all hell.”
“Yeah,” Luke said quietly, picking up the hem of Michael’s shirt. “But it’s my reputation, and I’m not that guy, Mikey.”
Michael kissed his cheek gently and wrapped an arm around Luke’s waist. “So we can fight it,” he said softly. “You know me, I’m the passive-aggressive tweeter you want on your side.”
Luke laughed softly, nuzzling into Michael’s neck. “She was such a mistake.”
“I know,” Michael said softly. “But everything happens for a reason. Maybe this will make sense someday.”
Luke heaved out a sigh, feeling as though he’d been awake for hours, and instead of crawling back into bed, they had things to do.
“Let’s just play it by ear,” Michael suggested. “And enjoy the fact we’re back in fucking Japan and let’s just have a good fucking time.”
Luke nodded, and kissed him quickly. “I love you.”
Michael brushed their lips together again and smiled. “Love you more.”
**
Luke struggles all day. He can’t help but think about it, in the back of his mind, that for every step he takes, and every question he answers and every moment he’s existing, there are these horrible, nasty things being said about him.
He avoids social media, and turns off all his notifications and heads for the shower the moment they’re back in their hotel room, and he mumbles his way through a short conversation with Michael before crawling into bed and falling asleep almost instantly.
His sleep is undisturbed and he’s incredibly grateful, but for some reason, he blinks himself awake at four am to a bright light on his phone. The room is still and quiet, nothing but the soft sounds of Michael breathing beside him, and Luke contemplates leaving it.
But he imagines a text from his mum, and can’t ignore it, quickly scooping it up to squint at the bright screen.
A Twitter notification.
He sat up, frowning, and unlocked his phone, intending to double check he’d disabled all his notifications before he sees the tweet his phone was alerting him to.
He clicks on it, and it takes him to an error page, indicating it had been deleted.
He went back to the notification, blowing the tweet up on his screen so he could see what it was. The words were blurry, and he was ready to see something awful, but the moment he’d focused on the words – and who had tweeted them – his heart was full of warmth.
It was there, and it was real and Luke wanted to wake Michael and kiss him.
He immediately went back onto his app and clicked on the hashtag, and his feed was inundated by words of encouragements, and tweets supporting him, and insisting they didn’t believe the lies.
Luke read until he couldn’t keep his eyes open, and abandoned his phone in favour of curling around Michael, pulling the older man back against his chest and squeezed him gently.
The tweet may have been deleted, but Luke didn’t care – Michael stood up for him, and that meant something.