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Luke has always been quiet, maybe too quiet especially when his big dreams are taken into account. Sometimes he almost hates falling into the trope of the small boy who doesn’t speak up enough and is both underrated and overvalued at the same time, it’s a horrible cliché and he knows it. Other times it just feels right, it feels very Luke and he hopes that’s okay. It’s not like he won’t talk at all, waiting for someone to save him from whatever it is he’d need saving from (himself? the hierarchy that this kingdom suffers from?). He’s just quiet and sometimes his hands shake too much but it’s okay because everyone is kind of odd. He likes the bright light early in the morning and the blue sky and the sun and the flowers and grass beneath his feet. He likes sticking his head in the clouds, making conversation with the wind and the birds while everyone else lives with their head in the dirt speaking so much but saying so little.
Though that makes it sound like Luke has a distaste for the world, which in a sense he guesses he does in terms of feeling like everyone else is sleepwalking and he can’t stop staring at the bright light and alluring colours in the sky, wide awake. But he really doesn’t hate the world, the weather is pleasant and refreshing and life really is beautiful. His family is kind and well off, they’re from a royal bloodline after all even though they like to lay low, he’s had a good upbringing with sweet forehead kisses from his mother and gentle encouragements from his father which he is of course very grateful for. The breezes through the town streets are nice, the lilies by the water bring him solace, the people surrounding him range from wonderful to not too terrible so he counts his lucky stars.
Arithelle’s landscape is grand, the architecture of his home and others are something special with cobblestone paths, vines climbing up rock and wood work as if the builders collaborated with Mother Nature on purpose and large, flourishing backyards. The spring season is kind to Luke, bringing family gatherings and May flowers, there’s a skip in his step more often as the days get longer with stars getting brighter. He has days where he thinks things couldn’t get better and days where he thinks things couldn’t get worse, though it’s less of the latter lately.
One day in between feet patters on floors, wooden dining chairs creaking and heaps of chatter from his relatives, Luke’s mother asks him to go fetch some more water from their well (that isn’t truly theirs, but isn’t truly someone else’s either) with the sweetest smile. Of course, Luke obliges, wriggling his way out of the house; because in all honesty his extended family has far too many people involved in order to coexist in his family’s cottage without invading personal spaces. He loads a few buckets onto a small cart his father built when he was younger for transporting working materials for unfinished business projects he needed to finish at home and what not. Though, upon the family’s realization a few years later concerning how little their youngest could lift, they figured this might be the best route for household chores that required a bit of adventure like bringing home new well water.
He guides it down the winding stone path, careful not to crush or run over any rogue poppies or dandelions that made their way onto the road by accident. Luke loves taking walks like this, he loves these moments. Moments where the breeze blows his hair a bit, the sun shines down and keeps him warm but not too warm and he has time with himself and his brain and the flowers. There’s a whole field full of daffodils and periwinkles and rose bushes and cluster of blossom trees, its silly but sometimes he feels more home there in the patches of petals than in his own home. He could watch the diphylleia grayis for hours in the rain even, the small fuchsias tell him such cute stories of love and fairytale romance while the chrysanthemums remind him that everything will be alright, especially in time.
The path drops him off a few feet from the well and Luke almost drops the buckets he begins to pick up because someone is at the well and no one else is ever at the well especially not someone like this. His sleeves are rolled up revealing skin that might even be paler than Luke’s and he has the darkest hair that’s hiding his eyes but Luke can see a cute button nose and the brightest smile that reveals the nicest rounded teeth. His breath hitches and his hands shake and all he can do is fumble over his body and words as everything comes crashing down – quite literally – grabbing the boys attention and good god, Luke’s face must be so red now as the clearest green eyes look at him.
Luke wants to cry and smile at the same time for reasons mostly unknown. He feels so bad for startling this poor, gorgeous boy who he can’t believe he’s never seen in his life and wishes it hadn’t taken him seventeen years to be blessed by his presence. Luke opens mouth to stutter out endless apologies but struggles to find the phrases as the boy comes closer to him, offering him a hand and a concerned look. Luke reaches up for the hand and gets such a strange rush come over him as he and the other boy’s hands meet.
“Are you alright? You really took quite the fall, something must have really startled you.” The boy said, helping pull Luke up to his feet, watching Luke fidget and brush himself off.
“I’m fine really, I’m so terribly sorry, I think it was just my clumsiness getting in the way,” Luke is lying straight through his fucking teeth right now but there’s not really a socially acceptable way to apologize for falling due to someone’s attractiveness that isn’t at least mildly creepy, “I’m sorry if I startled you. And thank you for helping me up!”
He still can’t get a hold of the earthquakes moving through his veins as he gathers his thrown buckets, trying to make his way over to the well. Luke’s choking on his words and isn’t sure if he should be looking at this boy or not, he doesn’t even know him and he’s already beyond flustered.
The boy laughs and Luke thinks he hears the gates of heaven opening, “No, not at all, I was just a bit worried. It’s no problem really; I’m Michael, by the way.”
Michael outstretches his hand again and after a bit of quick strategizing and rearranging everything in his arms, Luke eagerly shakes it with a smile, “It’s so nice to meet you! I’m Luke, I live about one hundred meters West of here. Do you, uh, live around here? I’ve never seen you here by the well and I’m sort of a frequent visitor.”
“I do! I think you’re technically my neighbor, actually? This well is half on my family’s property and half on someone else’s, I believe it might be yours. I’m the same distance just, you know, East.” Michael smiles and shrugs, “I don’t come out here too or anything like that often, just came to look for some vines to attach to my vihuela and figured I’d get some water for the family before returning.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful! I’m sorry we’ve never been acquainted before today, it’s such a shame and so rude of me,” Luke tucks a bit of hair behind his ear, “it’s so amazing to me that you play, vihuela! I’ve always wanted to play but never got around to it.”
“Don’t worry, it’s my fault too, I’m glad we’ve met now though. Maybe, if you wanted, I could teach you sometime?”
“Yes, please! Thank you so much, that’s such a kind offer.”
As Michael’s about to open his mouth to speak, they hear a faint bell ringing in the distance, “I’m sorry, that’s my mother calling for me to come home. I have a nasty habit of adventuring off and she likes to keep in touch, but, um, meet me here in three sunrises? At about 15:00? I hate to rush away but I don’t like to worry her.”
“Of course, and go off! Stressed guardians are no good.” Luke says as Michael’s already picking up his things and taking the first few steps home. He turns around and smiles and waves to Luke, leaving him flustered as ever with his three buckets still empty. Luke tries to shake the thought of Michael, shake the joy he feels when he thinks about their reunion in a few days and he knows, oh goodness, does he know that it is all too soon to be feeling so excited about some boy. Yet, here he is. Filling up buckets and staring at his reflection, listening to the babbling, bubbling waters beneath the well.
Luke and Michael meet up again, three days later, big smiles, pink cheeks and all. The sky is a bright hue of blue and they stay together until they can hardly make out one another’s face in the dark of night. Michael puts his hands over Luke’s and teaches him chords and Luke thanks Michael for not skipping out on him, for keeping his promise. Michael tells Luke it was his pleasure and he can’t wait to see him again. They make plans to see each other in two days, this time they come earlier and stay later and make plans for the next day. They keep meeting by the well, Luke isn’t sure how Michael feels about it but he likes it, it’s something that’s his and something that’s Michaels. It’s both of theirs.
Michael tells Luke one day he likes how he thinks and Luke tells Michael he likes how he moves and speaks. They spend a whole hour not making eye contact at all and then spend another one where they only make eye contact. They chase each other around the flower fields and play hide and seek in the rose bushes near Michael’s home, when Michael finds Luke in the feather grass on the other side of the lot they share secrets underneath the cosmos amoungst the bupleurums.
Luke likes his time with Michael a lot, likes Michael a lot. Being with Michael is like opening up a whole new gate to a new universe where Luke sees in technicolour and everything is happily rose tinted. Michael’s like thirteen wild cards in a deck while treating Luke so carefully and kindly at the same time, always checking in on him to make sure his heart is still happy and his eyes are still shining. Luke tries to do the same, speaking to Michael with the sweetest words he can muster up which still don’t feel good enough to him for the handsome boy whom he cares so much – too much? – for.
T
he families start to hear names like “Luke” and “Michael” ever so commonly now, they notice how their boys light up over each other and the boys find out Michael’s father assisted and commissioned Luke’s father’s blacksmith shop down in town for quite a while. Their mothers go out for tea and other delicacies in the mornings almost frequently now, complaining about and showing their compassion for their husbands and children (they’re wonderful, just a large handful at times).
Michael helps Luke pick out bougainvillea thorns from his skin while holding the teary boy’s hand who cries about how he just wanted to surprise Michael by finding the prettiest flowers he could because Michael deserves the best and Luke just wanted him to know how much he appreciated him. Luke recalls crying for hours on and off, the thorns are partially to blame but so were his emotions, he felt so guilty after failing such a simple task. He also recalls Michael holding him and telling him that he was grateful to have Luke as someone so dear to him and so lucky for his thoughtfulness.
They start holding hands more and more, start hugging more and more and touching, knees knocking and feet kicking teasingly, hands around waists and shoulders protectively. Luke and Michael stargaze under the cherry blossom tree and before the sun even sets they’re kissing with the passion of a couple on their wedding day. Luke’s fingers are playing with the hair at the nape of Michaels neck and Michael’s fingers are straight up almost glued to Luke’s skull as they run themselves through his hair and hold onto his cheeks like they never want to let go. They don’t care that they live in an old timey town that might not understand, they just want to look at the stars together and they aren’t sure if the stars are still in the sky or if the constellations now reside in one another’s eyes. The two play with fingers and get too close for friends and whisper divine words and stories into their ears and they pinky promise to still talk to each other and treat each other with the same platonic or romantic love and respect they did before regardless of how they feel in the morning.
The next day Luke isn’t at the well and Michael’s heart is pounding out of his chest because oh my god, what if something happened? What if it was something he did? What if Luke’s breaking the promise but no, no, no he can’t – he wouldn’t, he could if he wanted to but he wouldn’t. He wants to cry but tells himself there’s no way so Michael decides to come back tomorrow. Tomorrow, Luke still doesn’t show. On the tomorrow after tomorrow, Michael is sitting at the well when he sees a head of blonde hair coming his way and his heart jumps and does fucking cartwheels and Olympic, gold medal worthy tricks until he realizes the figure is too tall and too broad to be Luke.
The man looks strikingly like Luke, but Luke in roughly seven years or so, and says his name is Jack and that Luke is sick with a rather unforgiving fever. He also hands Michael a bougainvillea, thorn free, saying that Luke wanted him to give this to Michael. He lights up like a tree on Christmas morning and glows like all the cosmos in the galaxy, thanking Jack and telling him he hopes Luke has a quick recovery back to his healthier state. Michael feels like he’s going to explode into sparks and light up the whole night sky that night, he wants to scream praises and words of gratefulness to the sky all day until his throat is in tatters and his voice is gone forever.
A week after, Michael gets a letter in the post from Luke telling him to meet him by the creek where the origanums grow on almost every inch of ground off of E. Wyhre Street before sunset. When he arrives he’s greeted by a healthy, happy, ethereal looking Luke and oh god, does Michael run and plant tens if not hundreds upon his boy’s face. They spend the evening making sand castles and drawing on one another’s backs by organizing small shells and pebbles they find near the water into shapes and doodles. They hold hands and kiss and somehow they end up naked in the creek laughing so hard and getting into splashing fights. Kissing turns to touching and touching turns into something else that’s still touching but is so much more than touching as Luke almost tears up from happiness and ecstasy over whatever other worldly thing Michael is doing to him and the words he speaks into Luke’s ear.
Everything is beautiful and good for so long and for so many more nights, Luke is completely entranced by Michael, he loves every inch of him and he’s sure it’s too soon but it doesn’t matter anymore because he knows you are only here for so long and he wants to be here for the longest time with Michael. Colours are vivid and everything shines shades of gold and blues and purples and pinks with the other boy. They run around the town and the flower fields and swim in creeks and pick flowers. Michael is made of loudness and laughs that come from deep inside the heart and standing with Michael feels like standing in the sun on the best day of the year where everything is okay and perfect.
Luke still blushes and fumbles over his words and his hands still shake but Michael loves it and Michael loves him and he loves Michael and now he knows things cannot get any better. Unfortunately, when things cannot get better things get worse and when Luke comes home with a black eye from a few boys in the town square who have seen the couple out and about, he panics, he doesn’t know what to do. When Luke doesn’t meet Michael that day after his errands Michael decides to walk over to his house where he finds Luke on the hallway floor crying so hard and so loud. Luke hears the footsteps and looks over and doesn’t even know if it’s Michael or not and he’s not sure if he wants it to be Michael and he can’t fucking breathe so he just runs to his bathroom, slamming the door shut.
Michael isn’t sure if he’s ever been so scared in his life when he sees Luke looking at him with cuts and bruises on his face. He follows Luke up the stairs and down the hall praying to every God he’s ever heard about in school and on the streets and in church, to every God he’s ever criticized that Luke is okay because he’s too good for this.
They yell at each other through the door trying to communicate in some way, for once in his life Luke is not quiet and Michael’s just trying to get through to him he just wants Luke to unlock the goddamn door or at least talk to him. But he knows things are hard he knows this is hard, especially for someone like Luke who is soft and kind, someone who loves the colour of red roses and purple lilacs not someone who loves the colour of blood and deep bruises over something like who he loves.
Luke is suddenly remembering where they live and what time they live in and that both of them could fucking die because this is illegal, their love is illegal and punishable by death and he wants to scream and rip his hair out and fly into the galaxy with Michael and never seen anyone but Michael. Luke knows he can’t do that and now he just wants Michael to go away, he wants to protect him, he knew this was an awful idea and he can’t stop crying he can’t breathe he just wants everything to be okay.
“Luke, sweetheart, please open the door, my boy, please.” Michael begs, resting his forehead against the carved wood between him and basically his entire world.
“Michael, Michael, Michael you have t-to, you, you have to leave, please. It’s n-not safe please go, go. I-I never should have done anything I shouldn’t have gotten you into this mess.” Luke’s everything hurts, he’d rather have three million fevers than this, it feels like his chest is caving in and comets and meteors and stars are falling from the sky.
Michael shakes his head, “No, there’s no way, Luke just let me in, please. If you don’t I’m gonna…I don’t know…pick this lock or something. I’m not leaving I need to make sure you’re okay…Please.”
Luke has no idea what to do he feels like he’s drowning and now he’s just trying to reach out his hand out from under the door because he wants to protect Michael but he also wants to be with Michael and this is unbelievable. In some fuzzy haze of panic Luke does unlock the door, instantly thanking and kicking himself for doing so. Michael floods in like the ocean but calmer than what Luke’s drowning in and immediately takes Luke’s hands in one of his and uses the other arm to pull him so close they could probably melt into one another which sounds, so, so good now.
Michael cradles Luke’s head to his chest and whispers him words as the smaller boy sobs into his chest, he promises everything will be fine and that Luke just needs to breathe and he will not let anything to happen to himself or Luke. No one will take Luke away from him and there’s nothing that could get him away from Luke, unless he or Luke seriously wanted a break. But Michael knows this is Luke’s panic talking and if it wasn’t Luke wouldn’t be gripping on to Michael like it’s the last thing keeping him threaded to this god forsaken earth.
When Luke can breathe again, to some degree he sputters out to Michael in between deep, stressed breaths about everything. About the boys beating him up and calling him names and how he’s so scared the kingdom or law will crucify them for what they’re doing. He cries about how he doesn’t want to die, how he’s too young, how Michael’s too young and how Michael doesn’t deserve it. He cries apologies for letting Michael down but Michael just holds his face in his hands and kisses his cheeks, careful to avoid wounds from Luke’s earlier encounter.
“Luke, my sweet boy, please breathe. Your father does work for the King of Arithelle who’s your uncle and my mother’s mother is Queen of our neighboring kingdom and she is next in line for the throne. We can talk to them, something has to give, I-I’m sure someone can pull some strings, right? And if it doesn’t go well, then we’ll go to fucking Rome or Greece, I’ve heard their relations are more about class and age and social standing there than gender. We’ll live on the moon if we have to or in the middle of the sea. I’m not leaving you, darling. My dear boy, everything will be okay, we will figure this out. I know time is working against us, but we have the strings to pull and the future to change.”
“And your face…my poor boy, you did not deserve this, nothing is wrong with you or me alright, angel? Listen to me, my love. You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I will stay with you, and if you want to, you will stay with me. This will never happen again, we will not die, we will not hurt any longer. Everything will work out, we will make it work, we will wish on the stars that we love so much and that have watched out for us since day one.”
Michael is going on and on and Luke is listening and he’s trying to get it and he thinks he does. Michael keeps rambling for a bit more, telling Luke words laced with love in each syllable and promising him a brighter time and Luke thinks he trusts him. He trusts his parents, he trust Michael’s family, and he trusts Michael. Everything is out of his control but he just has to let go, or, something.
“I’ll always love you.” Michael tells him.
Luke’s chest is flooded with something suddenly and even though things might not be okay, they are suddenly okay to Luke. They will fix this, they will be theater script, fairy tale lovers. They will chase one another around in the flower fields and live in a bright, beautiful world and see the best things in life and they will have each other. He is a fool for Michael like a jester in the kings court and they both know it and it’s the most blessed thing even in this horrifying world that they will overcome in. They will live with their heads in the clouds, staring at the sun and the stars and talking to the wind and Luke will always fall for Michael.
“I’ll always love you too.”