Chapter Text
“Do you know how many times, like, on average, a stone can skip on water?”
Michael stared at Luke. He'd turned around to walk backwards, and was tossing a small stone between his hands.
“Good question,” Michael replied sarcastically, “too bad we live nowhere near water.”
“Hey, there's a pond near the middle school.”
“That's frozen over. Think you can get an accurate reading on that?” Michael huffed, his breath going white in the cold.
“Hypothetically,” Luke insisted, grinning and pointing the rock at Michael.
“Mate, I dunno. Google it. Put that fancy new phone of yours to use.”
“We're in the middle of nowhere, walking to get coffee. There is no such thing as ‘Google’ out here,” Luke spun on his heel and resumed walking beside Michael.
Michael shrugged. “Leech some Wi-Fi at the coffee shop, then.”
Luke sighed, dropped the stone and kicked it down the sidewalk. “Fine.”
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The coffee shop wasn't much farther down the sidewalk. Michael flinched at the bell on the door. He'd never get used to that.
“Forgot how cold it was,” he heard Luke mutter to himself, kicking snow off his sneakers.
Michael shrugged. “Winter.”
Luke gave a non-committal sound in response, shoving his hands in his pockets.
“Anyway,” Michael continued, unfazed, “what do you want?”
“The usual,” replied Luke, squinting at the menu screen. When Michael didn't answer, he added, “a coffee, Mike. Two cream, two sugar.”
“Uh-huh. Got it,” Michael walked up the counter, given there was no one else in the shop.
Almost surprising for a cold November day; you'd think there would be a few more people around a hot coffee shop than just two unemployed guys walking around in the -5 weather.
Luke scoped out a table in the corner, knowing Michael would also gravitate to sitting there.
He watched Michael order. There was something soft about Mike, like drawing people in.
Friendly. The short word for it. God, Luke really needed to stop hiding everything behind a fucking metaphor.
Michael leaned forward and rested his chin in his hand, listening intently to the barista.
Were they friends? Probably. Michael was somehow friends with everyone. He hardly even spoke to the other students on campus, but he managed to be buddy-buddy with… anyone.
Luke couldn't help but feel a tiny bit envious.
Michael suddenly stood up straighter, stiffer. The barista gave a weak laugh and handed him their drinks. Mike nodded and thanked them, turning around.
“Mike? What'd they say?” Luke asked gingerly, taking his coffee and ripping open an extra sugar packet. Michael had always teased him for being too shy to just ask for more sugar.
Michael sighed, setting his own mint hot chocolate on the table and twisting a ring around his finger. “Uhhh, not much.” He sat down, taking a sip.
“You remember Ash? From a couple years ago? Drummer kid?” He asked suddenly.
Luke stirred the coffee with a pinky, and looked over the rim of his cup, nearly choking on the hot drink. “Ash? As in Ashton? What's up with him?”
Michael sighed again, deeper this time. “He's got a boyfriend now.”
Luke actually choked on his coffee this time. “What?! Really? Damn. I didn't-” he almost added he didn't think Ash was gay, because he didn't, but really, Luke wasn't exactly the observant type. “-expect that.”
“I guess it was kinda sudden,” Michael muttered, his gaze flickering down to his hands.
Luke, again, almost says something like Ashton was the last person he expected to get in a relationship, he maybe thought Michael would, he's such a nice guy. But he stops himself by chewing on the inside of his cheek. Instead, he comments, “Ash is 22 now, I think.”
Michael pulls a face, signaling the end of the conversation.
“Anyway!” He grinned brightly, drumming his fingers on the table. “I'm free this evening. You wanna go to the record store on the street over? I just want to check out if they added any CDs, but I figured you'd want to come along.”
“Oh,” Luke answered weakly, licking his lips. “I can come, I guess. Not doing much tonight.” This coffee wasn't making him feel any more awake. Had he finally started getting numb to caffeine?
“Awwwwwesome,” Michael said softly, taking another sip of his hot chocolate.
Luke wanted to give Michael the world at that moment.
▪︎
Michael insisted on holding hands the way back. Naturally, he was shivering. Luke didn't really notice the cold, but Michael was practically burrowing into his side.
“Do you even own a jacket?” Luke said sarcastically, tipping his head back. The stars were, as per usual, covered by city smog, but there was a semblance of beauty even in that. Maybe he'd just lived in the city too long. The streetlights looked nice.
“You know I do,” Michael sighed in response. Luke did. It was this cool leather jacket with painted sleeves and patches and he'd always wanted to steal it from Michael if only he hadn't made such a point of how much he loved that jacket.
“And then you don't use common sense and wear it,” Luke smiled. Michael smiled back, leaning his head on Luke's shoulder.
“It's for the aesthetic, Lukey. I'm cool like that.”
“Whatever you say.”
“Yeah, yeah. See you in an hour?”
“Yup.”
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Luke and Michael don't share a dorm. Michael was devastated about this, but really, Luke would've hated for Mike to see the state of living Luke currently inhabited.
He pulled his hoodie over his head, standing there in the middle of a place he hardly recognized for a good couple of seconds.
Then he balled up the hoodie, threw it as hard as he could at a wall, and sighed like he'd been holding his breath for an hour.
An entire day with his best friend on Earth and plans to hang out in an hour, and all he'd wanted to do was go to his idea of “home”.
The idea of stepping out again after he'd just dragged himself back inside wasn't very appealing. God, what the fuck was wrong with him?
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