Chapter Text
5AM.
Luke was laying on his bed, deep in a good sleep after a tiring day, when suddenly his phone started ringing.
He groaned, reaching out blindly for it without even checking who was calling.
"mmh? who's this?," he mumbled, voice covered with sleep. He really wasn't in the mood to have a full-on conversation at five in the morning.
From the other end, a voice came through, sounding a lot like Callum's.
"Oh Luke! You answered - can you PLEASE go to the local casino next to the bar where Martin works at right now? THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT. Hurry or else I'm gonna die here oh my god,"
Luke blinked at the ceiling, confused. He pulled the phone away slightly to check the time. 5:02 AM. Why was Callum calling him this early?
"Wait, huh?" Luke said groggily. "Cal... it's too early for this. I'm tired. If you need something from me, go bother Zachary. "
He waited for a response.
"cal..?"
Nothing.
"Callum?" he called again.
Silence.
Luke sighed. Callum was the type to do this - call him all panicked, then go completely quiet like an idiot. Such a hopeless man.
At this point, it happened so often that Luke just sat in the quiet too, used to it.
Still half-asleep, Luke shifted onto his side, phone pressed against his ear, and started talking again - softly this time, like a secret he never intended to say out loud.
- Luke's POV
This idiot couldn't have really just left me alone in the call again.. What's so important that he had to wake me up at 5am?
This is probably something stupid again.
Or... maybe it is something important?
No. No. He's always messing with me. This has to be another one of his games.
God, this is messing with my brain. I can't even think straight. I haven't gotten enough sleep because of the workload I had to do last night.
- End
Luke let out a tired breath and spoke quietly, almost forgetting he was still on call.
"Hey." he tried again and there was no answer.
He smiled pitifully to himself.
"You know, Cal.. I've always wondered what it would be like to live with you."
He closed his eyes, words falling out in a sleepy, honest mess letting out a sigh.
"Like,, sitting together without saying anything, just feeling happy you're there. Just you walking up to me and just bothering me with your stupid blabber..”
Maybe Callum would complain about the coffee being too bitter even though he'd be the one who made it.
Maybe he'd leave his clothes everywhere and insist he'd clean them later.. and he probably wouldn't.
Luke could already imagine himself complaining about it while picking everything up anyway. Callum had always been someone who was somehow both capable and incompetent at the same time.
“that sounds like hell already.. god.."
He chuckled softly, voice warming up with the pictures he painted in his mind.
"You're one of the most insufferable people I've ever met. Gambling to your hearts content even when you don't even have enough to do so.. you should really stop."
Maybe that was the problem on Luke's end,
He cared enough to worry, even when he had no right to.
“..but"
"maybe baking cookies at 3am, wrecking the kitchen... or maybe slow dancing to whatever dumb songs are playing on the radio..”
His heart beat a little faster as he continued.
"playing with your soft.. wavy hair and tangling my fingers between each lock as you sleep on my chest.. and then wake up to me.. and even live our own life with no regrets.. or maybe.."
Luke tangled his fingers together on his blanket, still smiling unconsciously sleepily. He was a mess.
"piggyback rides. like talking about you, me, what we wanna be. Laughing when we're not even supposed to. Just... being around you. Brings me a sense of comfort."
He sighed again, feeling the familiar ache of wanting something he wasn't sure he could ever have.
"maybe.. maybe you wouldn't be so bad.. if I experienced those with you."
...
"...you probably can't even hear me right now, can you, you compulsive gambler.? this would be so embarrassing if you heard this anyway." he mumbled with a small, embarrassed laugh.
And that's when he heard it.
A cough.
Luke's eyes snapped open.
Wait.
Wait wait wait.
That wasn't how Callum coughed. It sounded too feminine.
"Chanel?"
Luke sat up so fast he almost dropped his phone.
"...oh hahaha.. hey, Luke.. I was just about to tell you to go grab your man.. he's wasted.." Chanel's voice came sheepishly through the line.
There was a long, painful silence.
Luke's entire face turned red, ears burning.
He had just ranted about living with Callum. At 5AM. To CHANEL.
Luke immediately threw his blanket over his head.
"OH MY GOD. CHANEL. WHY ARE YOU CALLING FROM CALLUM'S CELL?? AND WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SOMETHING????"
Chanel started giggling on the other end.
"I was gonna, but you sounded so cute— I didn't wanna ruin the moment!"
"this is so damn humiliating," Luke groaned, pulling his hair in embarrassment. "Forget everything you just heard. Erase it. Erase it from your brain-!"
Chanel kept giggling.
"Sorry, british boy. That's going in the memory bank forever."
Luke let out a loud, dramatic sigh, burying himself deeper in the blanket. He wished he could just disappear right there and then..
"you know what.. Chanel.?"
"Yeah?"
"... don't tell Callum."
You can practically hear her smirking just from hearing her voice.
"Well..."
Chanel coughed on the other end,
"I did say to come get your man.. and I meant it by like... he's right beside me."
Luke froze.
His hand slowly lowered the phone from his ear staring at it.
Then he raised it back to his ear.
“...What?”
Chanel didn't answer, and that's the part where Luke's stomach dropped.
“Chanel.”
Nothing.
“Chanel, what do you mean he's right beside you?”
The line was already dead.
Luke stared at the screen.
..
..
..
“...Fuck.”
He threw his phone onto the bed and immediately buried his face into his pillow.
He can't ever face them EVER again.