Chapter Text
There's a knock on Luke's poster-covered door and he slips the headphones off his ears, hearing a familiar voice call out his name in an insanely annoying sing-song voice. He straightens up from his slumped posture on his chair and gets up, the loud sound of the music still faintly playing away from the headphones he leaves on the table. The door opens to reveal a grinning Ashton, all up and dressed like he's going somewhere.
"Hello," Ashton elbows his way in and flings himself onto Luke's bed. "Whatcha doing?"
Luke eyes him suspiciously. "Nothing much? Just listening to some tunes." He goes over to the chair he was sitting in and plops onto it, wondering what Ashton could possibly want from him in the middle of the night like this. Overall, it had been a calm night - he had been content to lay back and listen to Blink 182 on repeat and get a good night's sleep before heading off to an exam the next morning, which he had been so determined to score at ever since the beginning of the term. His grade for the year depends heavily on this particular test, and if he doesn't manage to perform, he might as well crawl under his covers and kiss his bright future as a sound engineer away forever. But then here's Ashton, with that cheeky dimpled smile of his, and Luke's certain he's here to disrupt that plan somehow.
"Ah. So you're free, then?" Ashton asks, raising his eyebrows.
"I was planning to doze off soon, actually."
"Why so early?!" Ashton's tone is incredulous, as though the prospect of sleeping slightly earlier than midnight is anything but possible.
"I have a test tomorrow."
"Aw shit. I was thinking of bringing you out to this party..."
"Hell no," Luke interrupts. "I am not getting wasted on the night before an important test." He goes over to switch the music off of his iPod. The faint hum of 'I Miss You' stops abruptly.
"You don't have to get wasted!" Ashton protests, looking somewhat offended. "I just want you to... um, be my plus-one, or something like that. You look like you need a bit of loosening up, too."
Luke huffs. "It's about that Harry kid, isn't it?" Styles? What kind of name is that anyway? Luke feels the need to question out loud. Harry Styles had a racy reputation about him in their university, but Luke's hardly convinced that he's actually slept with twelve girls in one night before. From the occasions that he has seen the older boy, he seemed pretty cool and laid-back rather than bad boy material.
"Well, yeah," Ashton looks sheepish, cheeks colouring, "See, he's good friends with Niall, who is good friends with Calum, who I am having an alliance with." He draws out the explanation quickly, then pauses to catch his breath. "It's all in the game plan, bro."
"'Having an alliance with'?"
"Oh, you know. Calum's helping. He's a little out of my league, but he's willing to."
"Um, okay," Luke mumbles. "Sounds like a plan." He has heard of the name a couple of times, but he's never actually met this 'Calum' person.
"You could help too, you know?" Ashton proposes, looking enlightened by a new idea conjured in his head, "Like, we could all try and be close to them so we're actually in their circle of friends, then I get to ask Harry out and get that sexy piece of -"
"Whoa whoa whoa, slow down, lover boy!" Luke exclaims, holding his hands up. "I'm not getting involved in this."
Ashton's eyes widen, looking distraught. "Why not?"
"First off, I'm not exactly the ideal person to hatch this plan with, considering that I'm not your typical socialite, and two, if going to this party is the first step towards getting with Harry, then I am definitely not getting involved because I. Have. An exam. Tomorrow. Morning." Luke emphasises on each word almost aggressively, just to get the message through Ashton's seemingly thick skull.
"You don't have to get drunk! Just come with me, pleaaase?" Ashton is begging at this point, looking a little desperate. "You're the only one I know who would be there. I need you to help me not mess things up." And because he has a flair for the dramatics, he gets onto his knees in front of Luke.
Oh god. Here we go.
"You've been my best friend my whole life, Luke Hemmings. My beautiful, loyal, smart, a tad too nerdy, dependable best friend. Did I mention beautiful?" Ashton pauses and winks before turning back to begging mode. "Please just help me this once, Lukey-bear. You know a real friend would always help his friend in getting the d. I'll do anything. I promise."
Luke frowns down at his best friend of fifteen years. "You'd do anything?"
"Anything."
"Right then," Luke nods. He has yet to think of what Ashton should do to repay him for this, but he gives in anyway. He wishes he isn't that much of a pushover. "I'll go. But promise me we'll leave before two."
"Alrighty!" Ashton jumps to his feet and pulls him into a strangling hug. "Thanks, mate!"
"Get off me, you cock," Luke pushes him away, sending him flopping onto the bed, laughing. As he turns to change into something more appropriate for a party than sweatpants and a holey t-shirt, he's praying that he won't regret this decision.
All for Ashton's quest in getting Harry Styles' d.
*
The thumping sounds of bass from inside of the house along the quiet street emanates a flurry of butterflies in the pit of Luke's stomach, and he can tell that Ashton is pretty nervous himself, too. They walk towards the white front door which is already smeared with something like brown liquid and Ashton reaches to ring the bell.
4801, reads the number on the wall beside the door. Luke wonders whose party this is. It hadn't occurred to him to ask Ashton about it.
The door swings open and a girl with a beer cup takes a look at them and laughs maniacally in their faces, before slamming it shut again.
"Ash? Are you sure this is the right house?" Luke questions, turning to the curly-haired boy.
Ashton checks his phone for the address, apparently forwarded by Michael much earlier that day. "Yup. 4801. Looks like I'll have to call -"
The door opens and well, Ashton basically looks like he's about to get a heart attack, because who else would it be but the notorious Harry Styles, a black button-down hanging precariously on his slender frame, the mass of brown curls on his head styled to perfection.
"Oh, Ashton, hey! Glad to see you, man. Michael said you were coming." Harry's mouth spreads into a grin, and he ushers Luke and a weak-kneed Ashton inside. "And you're his friend, I assume?" He turns to Luke.
"Yeah," Luke smiles back. "I'm Luke." He's taking Harry remembering Ashton's name as a good sign that his best mate would be in safe hands without him later tonight. That is, if he succeeds in actually getting the d.
"We thought we were at the wrong house," Ashton starts off conversationally, recovering from his initial shock. "This girl opened the door and slammed it in our faces."
"That would be Shauna. I apologise on her behalf, then," Harry chuckles, as the three of them wade through a sea of people of all sorts - from your intimidated-looking freshmen taking slow sips of beer to hardcore drunks waving their limbs to the music pounding through the hallways.
"This is your house, then?" Ashton asks, automatically taking the main role of the socialiser, which Luke doesn't mind too much. He's more than content to listen in and observe instead.
"Nah. A friend of mine's. Louis? Have you met him?" Harry is leading them to the refreshment table, where a dozen of cups filled to the brim with beer is situated. "Just to be clear though - he's not my boyfriend. I'm single."
Ashton, who was taking a gulp of his beer from one of the cups on the table, almost chokes at Harry's blatant comment. Luke nudges him warningly to keep him in control.
"Ah yeah," Ashton nods hastily, "I've talked to him a couple of times. I think we share the same classes, too."
"Oh yeah, didn't you work one of the assignments earlier this year together? I recall Louis telling me about that."
"Yeah. He's a cool guy," Ashton smiles, and Luke can tell that he's not sensing his presence there anymore.
"Cool." Harry's green eyes are intently studying Ashton's very own brown ones.
Luke takes it as the signal for him to step away. "I'll... have a look around, yeah?" he excuses himself, and the two of them nod, getting into a conversation too soft to be heard over the loud music.
Looking around is exactly what Luke ends up doing, walking around sort of aimlessly and watching people lose their minds to the alcohol getting to their heads, until he reaches a room at the end of the main corridor where a bunch of boys are playing beer pong. The cheers erupting from the room makes Luke peek curiously inside, and much to his relief, sees a very amused Michael leaning against the wall, watching the others play their game.
He walks over and Michael, upon seeing him, greets him with a half-smile. "Hey, Lukey."
"Hi. I think my work here is done?" Luke says uncertainly, "Ashton is getting it on with Harry tonight for sure."
"Good for him," Michael laughs. "C'mon. Stand here with me. You don't need to leave yet."
The two of them watch the group of guys crowded around the table, the center of attraction on a blonde guy who is aiming carefully at his opponent's cups, one eye closed and the tip of his tongue sticking out at the corner of his mouth in concentration. The suspense in the air is thick as he throws the two balls he's been given, which both land into the cup in the middle of the triangular form on the table, thus earning him loud claps and cheers for his victory. He does a lap around the room, football player style, and fist pumps in celebration.
"That's Niall," Michael says to Luke, "He's Harry's best mate."
Niall is saying something in a loud, obnoxiously drunken way, his words slurred in a thick Irish accent. His cheeks are tinged red and he is now shoulder-to-shoulder with a dark-haired boy, spitting out words to the rap song playing in the background as if they're doing an impromptu performance. The two of them could be twins - dressed identically in tank tops and snapbacks put on backwards - except for the fact that they are physically vastly different.
"Who's that?" Luke gestures to the boy next to Niall, who looks equally as intoxicated. Despite looking so, Luke thinks he's pretty good-looking, arms muscular and tan, dark brown eyes sparkling in the midst of all the excitement.
"Calum. He and Niall are like the epitome of all frat boys on this campus," Michael replies, taking a sip of the beer he has in his hand. "Always having fun, the two of 'em. Harry isn't as... wild."
"Oh." Luke hears Ashton's voice in his head, saying, "...Calum, who I am having an alliance with..."
"How exactly is he helping with Ashton's mission to get Harry?" Luke quizzes.
Michael shrugs. "Dunno."
Niall appears to have spotted Michael, maybe for the first time that night, and drags Calum along towards them, blue eyes dancing with ecstasy. "Hey, Mikey!" he holds out a fist and Michael uses his own to bump it with his.
"Niall, Calum - this is Luke. Ashton's friend."
"Ohh Ashton... He's the one Harry can't shut up about!" Niall says. He claps Luke's shoulder, looking slightly up at him even though he's actually at least a year older. "Hey there, Luke."
"Hi," Luke answers shortly, smiling. "Good to know that Ashton's feelings are mutual." He attempts to joke.
"Sure is," Niall nods, "Gotta thank Michael for inviting him. And you, of course."
"Hey, I think I deserve some recognition for introducing them first, though, right?" Calum speaks up, looking directly at Luke as he says so. Luke breaks the eye contact, feeling his cheeks grow warm.
Calum is definitely what Luke would consider "doable", if he'd ever actually intended on "doing" anyone. He looks like the exemplary of a frat boy alright, but there's also an edge to him that screams 'bad boy', and Luke would be lying if he says he isn't into that kind of look on boys. His tank top does little to cover up his muscular physique and the slightly sweaty skin just below his collarbone is marked with a tattoo, MMXII.
Luke, in his clean Green Day t-shirt and blue jeans, feels inadequate next to him.
"But of course," Niall says sarcastically, and shoves him aside. "You started all of it, and I was the one who had to put up with Harry going on and on about Ashton for weeks before tonight. It was crazy." He shakes his head. "I bet you had to go through the same thing, too, eh, Luke?"
"Exactly," Luke agrees.
"Hood! It's your turn, bastard," one of the guys from the table call out, but Calum just shrugs in reply. He's stealing glances at Luke an awful lot, which Luke finds to be a little strange. He has a bold look on him when he's staring into Luke's blue eyes, and it honestly intimidates him a little bit.
"I'm bored. Let's do something else," Calum says and Luke's barely had the time to ask "do what?" before Calum takes him by the arm, pulling him out of the room with Niall and Michael in tow.
They go through the rest of the house pointlessly, Niall and Calum saying hellos to anyone who knows them (which is, quite literally, everyone) and Luke's a little overwhelmed with the prospect of having Calum's skin on his skin the entire time.
The thing about Calum is, Luke notices, is that he's something like a supernova against the blur of the people in the background, standing out with his big smile and his even bigger presence. Niall's a lot like that, too - the two of them occupy a space and make the room seem larger with just them standing and talking and being their shameless, impulsive, even sometimes borderline crude selves. They laugh aloud, possibly aware of their power over the entire room, their ability to make all eyes snap into their direction with just one word uttered.
It soon occurs to Luke why Ashton had said that Calum was "a little bit out of his league".
With Luke attached to his hand, it's everything different than Luke has ever known. He's always blended in the background, unseen, somewhat invisible, but with Calum by his side, everyone is seeing him, as if it is for the first time. And while he's not altogether comfortable with the unusual amount of attention on him, it's a nice change from the usual anonymity he'd gotten used to over the years.
Luke wonders if Ashton would be able to feel that with Harry.
Calum gives him a smile at one point, cheeky and teasing, asking, "You alright, Luke?"
And Luke nods in response, uttering in his head, maybe this could be us.
*
Out of all activities that could be done at a party, Niall and Calum later choose spin-the-bottle.
Luke's weirdly anxious about it, even though he's bent on staying out of the game just to watch instead. He supposes he can't expect a low-key activity like a read-aloud session, book club style, to occur at parties like these, so he might as well just get comfortable sitting and watching the wild fun unravel in front in his eyes.
They round up anyone who's willing to join, but Ashton and Harry are still nowhere in sight.
"Attention!" Niall bangs on a table to quiet down the excited buzz among the horde of hormonal boys and girl in the room. "We'll start by forming a circle around" - he grabs an empty, discarded bottle lying horizontically on the table - "this bottle right here." He places the bottle right in the middle of the room and everyone starts to form an oddly-shaped circle around it, Luke excluded.
"Luke! What're you doin' outside of the circle?" Niall calls out, settling in between Calum and a red-haired girl.
"I'm... sitting it out?" Luke replies awkwardly, everyone's eyes upon him.
"Oh no, you aren't," Niall chuckles, "Make way for him, Michael."
Michael shifts over to offer Luke a vacant space next to him. Luke takes another moment to hesitate.
"Luke. We're not starting the game without you."
Now it all comes down to his own luck and whether or not he gets to sit out simply by not getting picked to kiss anyone or be kissed by anyone. Luke occupies the space next to Michael and the anxiousness he feels starts shooting up to an all-time high.
The game starts off with the host of the game himself, Niall, who ends up snogging a girl a few spots away from Luke. The kiss looks over-enthusiastic, particularly on the girl's behalf, and Niall pulls away almost gagging, which earns a few laughs from the others. The girl looks more ashamed than anything else.
"Everyone knows the only person you really want to snog is Zayn Malik," she snaps as everyone breaks into laughter at the nauseated look on Niall's face.
"And that's supposed to make me feel bad?" Niall shoots back, looking nonchalant. "Thing is, everyone also knows that he's the prettiest boy on this campus and is totally snog-worthy."
The girl humphs in response and goes back to her spot with a scowl on her face.
"Alright, Cal, you're up," Niall gives his friend a wink and gives him a light push forward.
Luke notices Calum giving him a long look before taking a spin at the bottle. He swallows. The bottle stops spinning gradually, finally stopping and pointing... in Luke's direction.
"Here goes." Calum waddles on his knees toward Luke, and Luke feels his heartbeat going a thousand miles a second as he approaches.
"Touchdown," he mumbles, just inches away from Luke's face, and so he kisses him.
Holy fuck. Their lips collide a little clumsily, Calum's tongue slipping right into Luke's mouth, making him taste alcohol and something like mint, and Luke's thinking, more more more because the high is getting to his head and it's like he's blasted off into an entirely different world already. Luke feels a hand tugging on his t-shirt and sighs euphorically into the kiss.
They pull apart just a few seconds later, conscious of everyone else watching. Cat calls and wolf whistles ring through the formerly tense atmosphere between the two of them and Calum sort of laughs at the attention they're getting, whilst Luke is busy trying not to look too embarrassed.
"You're good," Calum whispers, a grin on his face, before going back to his original place next to Niall, who immediately gives him a clap on the back.
The game goes on but Luke's in too much of a daze to pay attention to what happens afterwards. The kiss replays again and again in his head like a broken record, and Luke's certain he's starting to fall in love with Calum Hood at least a little, if he's not in too deep already.
What pulls him back to Earth, though, is a single glance to the watch around his wrist, stating that it's already 3 a.m.
"Fuck," Luke mutters and gets up to his feet. "I'll have to go now, guys, sorry." The rest of his sentence is consists of him mumbling something about his exam before he turns and walks out of the room hurriedly, determined to check up on Ashton before leaving to make sure he's okay.
The sound of footsteps trailing just behind him makes him spin around, coming face-to-face with Calum. His face mirrors something like concern, a slight frown between his eyebrows. Luke doesn't know why he hadn't noticed just how brown his eyes are when they were close to kissing earlier.
"Oh, hey. I'm just, gonna go and check up on Ash before leaving."
Calum takes him by the arm like he did earlier, but with a gentler grip unfueled by the intensity of alcohol fogging his brain and leads him to a nearby closed door. He knocks on it. "Hey, you okay in there?"
There is a gruff reply, "Fuck off, Cal!" which sounds exactly like Harry's voice.
"Is Ashton in there?" Luke asks through the door.
"Don't worry about me, just go on, you'll see me in the morning," Ashton's voice emerges from the behind the door.
"Best to leave them to their fucking, I think," Calum says. They make their way to the front door, and Luke's wondering exactly why Calum is risking losing his turn to be kissed in the game just to accompany him to the door. "Why leave so soon?"
"I have an exam tomorrow," Luke explains. He huffs out a laugh. "I didn't want to be here, actually. Ash just needed some moral support, I guess."
"That's too bad, I was thinking you could probably stick around for a bit longer." Calum's tone is suggestive enough to make Luke's cheeks turn a brilliant shade of red. One of his eyebrows is raised, a cocky look that forces Luke to push the thoughts of his probable dominance in sexual activities out of his head. "I don't have class till noon, and I like you."
I like you I like you I like you, echoes incessantly in the brief silence after, and he thinks he might have had his heart stop beating for just a millisecond.
"Um yeah." Luke curses himself for the lack of words he's getting out as a response. He only then realises that he's the one who needs Ashton tonight, and not the other way round.
"You could..." Calum pulls out a pen and takes Luke's arm, promptly scribbling something on his pale skin. "Call me?" There's a hint of hopefulness right at the end of the question, which Luke finds to be ridiculous, because does this totally hot frat boy-type person really want me to call him??
Taking a look at the digits on his arm, Luke ends up blurting out something incomprehensible.
Calum laughs, the sound almost like a punch to his gut. "What was that?"
"Uh. I'll call you tomorrow after my exam then?" Luke repeats his intended message.
"Sure, whenever you want, babe." Calum leans against the door frame, a genuine, slight smile playing on his lips.
It's the first smile Luke's seen him wear on, one that doesn't imply impishness or unholy intentions. He'd been dead sexy throughout the night, but this time he's beautiful. All his initial bravado had melted away to reveal a kinder-looking person, and for some reason it feels like a glimpse of a thing that could be part of Luke's future.
Luke decides that he'd give this newly discovered side a chance.
And to call him tomorrow is the first step, Luke concludes as he walks down the street, feeling the dark-haired boy's eyes bore into his retreating back. He doesn't think he'll actually say this out loud, but he silently thanks Ashton for dragging him out earlier that night.