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annoyingstupidmiracle · 2 years

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Do you really hate me? l.r.h x reader

CONTAINTS SMUT... as usual

Word Count: 5319

I am completely open to requests/scenarios to write about. Lmk what you think!

Also go on wattpad and check out some of my works on there: Nemo2403

Your wrist flicked in every which way, making marks upon the canvas with acrylic paint. It had been a long day at the studio, constantly catching up with customer requests of very specific paintings. Your schedule had been crammed and stressful, hardly even getting a day to yourself. Of course, there were other people in the studio that gave you a little taste of the outside world, but you missed your friends.

“Staying late again, I see.” Your work friend, Milly, says to you while gathering her belongings.

You sighed while continuing to stroke the brush. “Yep.”

“A couple of us are going to the bar across the street around 9 if you’re wanting to join.” You nodded, continuing your work. “Well, Luke’s here if you need anything.” Subtly, you took your eyes off the canvas to shoot her a glance. A smirk was settled on her face, waiting for some sort of reaction. You didn’t like him. In fact, you despised Luke Hemmings. Everything he did pissed you off, especially in the studio. He worked in the realism department, and you in the surrealism department. They were so similar, yet so different.

“Don’t remind me.” You grumble, dipping the brush into your paint once more. Her giggle echoes through the empty, quiet studio as she walks off towards the exit. As soon as she leaves, you hear music from the opposite side of the building suddenly turn on. At first, you try to ignore it. There was nothing wrong with rock music, or even punk. But as soon as the sound reached maximum volume, you couldn’t help but grow annoyed. It completely disrupted your workspace. Tossing the brush into a cup nearby, you stomped across the long hall to the closed double doors and instantly pushed one open, not bothering to knock.

“Would you turn that shit dow- Oh my god!” You exclaim, holding a hand over your eyes as the other one gripped the door handle.

“Oh, hey, Y/n.” Luke says nonchalantly, standing in front of a medium sized canvas. His clothes were discarded off to the side, and the painting he was working on only covered from the top of his waist to his mid-thigh. You could tell he was completely naked, as it wasn’t the first time you had walked in on him after hours. Luke was weird, to say the least. “You’d think to knock by now.”

“You’d think, by now, you’d keep your clothes on,” you retaliate, keeping your vision covered.

“I’m starting to think that you enjoy seeing me naked.” With a frustrated sigh, you uncovered your eyes and gave him a bored look.

“Will you please just turn your music down?”

Luke rolled his eyes and strode over to the radio which caused your eyes to widen, cheeks reddening as well. His ass was on full display to your poor eyes. “Enjoy the-” Before he could finish his snarky comment, you exited the room and walked back to your workspace, closing the door behind you. The fresh image of his toned core stuck in your head. Luke was by far one of the most attractive people you’ve seen, but he was a pain in the ass. The first day you met him, there had been competition. He was there a year longer and ever since you got there, there were constant battles. You two would go back and forth expressing new ideas for the studio all together, and not to mention getting each other’s customers to sway either to realism or surrealism. He’d steal your clients and you’d steal his. That’s how it’s been for the past three years. But you were used to it. He was used to it. At this point, there was nothing new.

Finally getting behind your easel again, you finished up the piece and decided to call it a night. Your friends were going to the bar that night, and nothing was going to change your plans. Hanging up the messy apron, you changed your clothes in the bathroom to go out in and grabbed your things. After a few debatable thoughts, you stopped at Luke’s door and knocked this time.

The door creaked open to reveal him in just a loose pair of joggers, but his feet and chest were bare. If you didn’t have cold feelings towards the guy, to say you wouldn’t pursue him would be a lie. A smug expression was pulled on his face as he stared you down. Clearing your throat, you began speaking, “I just wanted to say I was heading out for the night.”

“Are you sure? I thought you’d come by for some fun after what you saw earlier.”

Rolling your eyes, you scoffed. “In your dreams. I’ll see you tomorrow, Lucas.”

“Right, see you later, Y/n.”

The next morning, you had instantly regretted going out with your friends to the bar. A pounding headache and being late to work definitely weren’t the two things you had in mind for the day, but here you were stumbling into work with a coffee and a constant ache against your temples. Tossing your things off to the side of your studio room, you sat down in a stool and groaned. This definitely wasn’t the best way to get a promotion, and it for sure lowered your chances of being chosen by your boss to put your art in the famous gallery downtown.

As if matters couldn’t get any worse, Luke walked into the room which made you let out a deep breath to control your composure. “Bad night?”

“What do you want?” You snap, looking at him from the corner of your eye. In his hand, he held up a white container, the sound of pills clashing together being music to your ears.

“Thought this would help.” With a simple toss, the pill bottle was thrown to your grasp as you swiftly caught it in the air. Aspirin. Dumping a few out into your palm, you slid them into your mouth and downed them with coffee.

A smile made its way to your face as you looked at Luke, “thanks. I needed that.”

“Yeah, also, Pat wants to see you in her office.” As your smile faded, the boy left the room leaving you to go see what your boss needed. Hesitantly walking to her office, you knocked and immediately got told to open the door. Pat was in her chair, typing away at the laptop on her desk, glasses resting on her nose.

“Sit,” she demanded. You did as told, instantly plopping down in an armed chair. “I received some news from the board about some future projects they wanted to work on.”

Excitement raced through your veins as you straightened your posture. “Yeah?”

Pat’s eyes flicked up to meet yours. “We’re extending our abstract department and will need the extra space to do that so-”

Your shoulders slumped as you shook your head in confusion. “Wait, what? Abstract?”

“Yes.”

“Pat, I respect you, don’t get me wrong, but our abstract department sucks. Luke’s realism paintings are better than that.”

A wide smile crossed her face to which you returned it with a look of even more confusion. “It’s lovely that you brought that up, Y/n, because we were planning to combine the surrealism and realism departments. You and Luke would be working together in the same room. Can’t hurt to add a little spice to the competition, right?” Your face dropped in disappointment. Pat knew you and Luke didn’t get along, but she was determined to make everyone a better artist by adding competition in the mix.

“Whose room are we taking?” You question, hoping to god it was yours.

“I thought we could play a friendly game of rock, paper, scissors,” you heard from the doorway and turned to see the mischievous blonde leaning against it.

“Ha- Right.” When you realized no one else was laughing, you fell silent.

“Best two out of three gets to keep their room. Other has to move.”

You shrugged, standing up with a balled fist, ready to start. “Game on.”

Pat watched the two of you with a look of amusement on her face. She had grown to adore your shenanigans every day, and instantly noticed a change in her first hired painter, Luke. He had worked with her at a past company, but once Pat developed her own business, Luke had instantly been hired on. Pat watched him grow and raised him to be a terrific painter. Upon hiring you, Luke’s entire motive of work changed, and his painting improved more than ever. Pat had decided you were the best competition he’s ever had, and the two of you together pulled in nearly a million dollars after selling your work.

Luke smirked as he won the first round and frowned as soon as you beat him the next. You were teetering on the edge as your hands moved against one another, cursing as his rock pounded down on your makeshift scissors. “Fuck, you’re annoying.” You say, storming off to your studio room. You’d have to pack your things up knowing that it was already going to take a while.

With a frustrated sigh, you grabbed a box from the floor and stalked over to your paints. Nothing irked you more than not getting your way, especially when it came to painting. Especially when Luke was involved. He always made things hard for you, ever since you started. And it was all the more frustrating because you had actually liked him at first.

He was sweet. Always complimented your work, and always had a welcoming smile. But as soon as Pat began showing you more attention, he began to make you look bad. He’d steal your clients and pull petty crap, so you did the same. And that’s how it’s been ever since.

A knock on the door made you turn your attention to it and instantly frown. “What do you want, Puke?”

Luke held a hand to his chest as his mouth hung open. “Ouch, that stung.” Your eyes narrowed at him, so he let out a breathy laugh. “Alright- I came to see if you needed help.”

Scoffing, you turned to continue packing your things. “No. Not from you anyways.”

“Don’t be like that,” he says, walking up behind you and placing some things in the box. Looking at what he placed in there, you grew annoyed and moved it. Unfortunately, Luke caught sight of this, and his eyes flicked up to meet your innocent looking ones. “Really?”

“What?”

“Did I not place it in the box correctly, Y/n?” The way he said your name caused your stomach to turn, but you ignored it and continued packing. “I asked you a question.” He says after a minute, clearly growing annoyed.

“I know,” you reply, simply because you knew he hated it. But he was already hoping for some sort of rise from you. Arguing with you was the best part of Luke’s day because seeing you so wired up made his blood pump faster. It gave him satisfaction knowing he could have such a great effect on you, not only that, but he thought you looked incredibly hot while lashing out at him.

Deciding to leave it, Luke leaned over to grab a few paints which included brushing up against you. The tingling sensation that crept up your spine sent you shying away from the tall broad. There was always some unknown tension between the two of you. Never being able to get along often made things tense as it was, but when neither was talking, there was more thinking to do. More time to dwell on the tension.

“That should be all of them, right?”

“Yeah, just grab the easels and help me take them to your studio.” You say, picking up the box and beginning to walk to the exit. After not hearing the shuffling of doing what you asked behind you, your head turned to the blonde. “Hello?”

“I didn’t hear the word please.”

“Oh, my fucking god- Will you please do what I asked?”

Luke faked a smile, “oh, anything for you. Thanks for saying please.”

Rolling your eyes, you walked your things to his part of the building and placed the box on the floor a good distance away from his. Luke entered a minute later and set up the easels before stalking back over to his workspace and clicked on the radio.

Hours went by of the two of you being in your own space, music playing in the background. It wasn’t half bad today; you didn’t want to rip your ears off this time. Your first painting of the day only needed finishing touches before being done, and you had decided to possibly go home afterwards. A knock on the door caused Luke to turn his music down while looking at the new presence in the room. Pat opened the door enough to poke her head in with a smile.

“I hope you two are working well together. I’m done for the night, everyone else was caught up with orders, so I let them off early. You two good to lock up after I leave?” Luke gave her an affirmative nod as you shrugged, continuing to paint.

“We’ll take care of it, enjoy your night, Pat.” Luke said as the woman ducked back out of the room. He turned the music back on and cranked up the volume more than before. It would have bothered you, since you like your peace and quiet, but you finished up the painting and stepped back with triumph.

“Finally.”

“You finished?” Luke asked. It surprised you slightly that he seemed interested, but you went along with it.

“Yeah, but I was thinking about starting a new one.”

“I wouldn’t, the later it gets, the more they’ll start to suck.” Your jaw slacked as you crossed your arms.

“And to think you were being nice. I wasn’t going to do a whole piece for a customer.” It was going to be one you could possibly take home to hang up on the wall. Perks of being a painter; you could make your own paintings. Duh.

Luke rolled his eyes, “so what new painting were you going to do?” Thinking quickly, you looked to the brush sunk in the blue paint next to you and grabbed it. Flinging your wrist towards the blonde, you watched as paint splattered against his face, nearly going into his mouth. His eyes squeezed closed while feeling the cold substance hit him as he tensed up.

A bubbly laugh erupted from Luke’s throat as he stalked up to you quickly, rubbing the paint off his lower lip. In a swift movement, he swiped your cheek with the color as your jaw dropped. A matter of seconds went by before both your hands were flying into any paint, they could to smear it on the other. Luke grabbed the cup of purple paint you had been heavily keen on using lately and thrusted it at you, watching as the color drenched your clothes. In an instant, you grabbed the paper plate you had been mixing color on and pressed it to his face. As soon as you removed the plate from his face, your eyes met his and for a second it looked like his moved to your lips. You couldn’t help but let out a loud laugh out of the awkward moment.

“That’s what you get,” you say, backing away from Luke who clearly looked annoyed.

His hand reached out to grab your wrist, forcing you close to him. “What are we doing?” He suddenly asked causing you to go quiet. His breath ghosted along your face as you had been far closer than you had thought.

“You mean how we don’t get along? I hate you remember?” You tried to sound confident, but with the closing tension in the room, your voice was small. Your eyes stared at his lips as they twitched, ready to speak.

“Do you really hate me?” He was right; you really didn’t hate the guy. If you had personally known Luke on another level outside of work, he’d have a fighting chance with you. So, what’s the harm in figuring it out now? “I don’t know about you, but the tension could be cut with a knife and-” You couldn’t take it anymore. Without thinking, you grabbed the sides of Luke’s face and smashed your lips against his. Of course, there was paint mixing between you two, but you didn’t care. His hands press into the small of your back, pulling you flush against him. And in that moment, you were glad you went with your instinct of kissing him. There wasn’t a day that went by that you didn’t wonder what it would be like to not hate Luke, but to… love him instead. Maybe he’d go easier on you if he were laid occasionally. Perhaps it couldn’t hurt to check, right?

Your arms snaked around his neck as his hands set to the backs of your thighs, lifting you off the ground. His footing became unbalanced as he slipped on some paint, but your back became flush with a supply table that was full of fresh paint as he fit between your legs, hands on either side of your head. As the table rumbled beneath your body, it became known to you how real this moment was, and you suddenly stopped.

“Holy shit,” you breathed out, pushing your hair back that was soaked with paint. A laugh escaped your lips as you glanced around, seeing the mess the two of you were making. Luke’s eyes were doing the same as yours, wandering. A smirk made its way to his face as soon as he met your gaze again. In that moment, you knew you couldn’t stop there. Forgetting all about hating the guy, your hormones urged you to pull him back in. So that’s just what you did. Hooking your fingers in the collar of his shirt, you yanked him forward and allowed for your lips to meet again. This time, no further thoughts of stopping. If Luke wanted in your pants, now was the time to do it. His lips went to your neck where there wasn’t as much paint and sucked and bit at the skin causing it to be sensitive. A moan left your lips at the feeling, almost surprising yourself. One of Luke’s large hands found your side, feeling how perfect you felt in his grasp. He mumbled something against your skin before popping up to see your face.

“Do you ever want to fuck on a canvas and hang it up knowing no one else will know?” He asked, after a small moment in thought.

You furrowed your eyebrows before your eyes darted to the big canvas you had leaning against the shelf, and suddenly… the idea was very appealing and spontaneous. “Doesn’t hurt to try, right?” Pushing himself away from you, Luke turns around and instantly spots your canvas and goes to place it on the ground. A proud smile illuminates on his face causing you to laugh. “You’ve thought about this before, I’m guessing.”

“Oh, Y/n… You have no idea.” Watching you hop down from the table, his eyes trail down your figure. “When you look like this every day, who wouldn’t think of it once or twice?”

Looking down at yourself, you rose an eyebrow in confusion. “I’m literally just wearing a big t-shirt. I promise I have shorts underneath.” It wasn’t often that you wore only an oversized tee with some shorts. You often went barefoot around the studio as well, but feeling free as far as clothing goes, it helped you paint better.

“Yeah, and it leaves so little to the imagination.” He adds, reaching for the bottom of his shirt.

Your eyes catch this, and your stomach goes crazy with butterflies. “Well walking around naked leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination.”

“And how’s that working out for ya?” He questions smugly before lifting his shirt and tossing it off to the side. You allowed your eyes to travel down his chest to his waistline, the top of his boxers peeking out from the fabric.

Swallowing harshly, you realized how sexually frustrated you’ve been for the past three years. You had also realized how hot Luke really was. “Not too well, I’m afraid.” You admit, stalking over to him and begin to lift the shirt from your body, exposing the shorts underneath.

“Fuck,” Luke breathed out. “Come here.” His hands reached out for you as you leaned into him, allowing him to take the shirt off you himself. Luke’s eyes raked your body like it was art, like he was astonished, or in awe of how you looked. A blush crept on your cheeks as you began to look away from him to distract yourself of any insecurities that headed your way. Spotting your paints, you grabbed a few colors and looked at Luke expectantly. “The fuck are we gonna do with yellow?”

A smirk crept on your face as you shrugged innocently. “I could tell you what we’re gonna do with yellow.” Popping open the container, you poured some out on your palm and looked back at Luke as he stood there with his lips parted. “Or would you rather me show you instead?” Without another thought, Luke picked you up as you squealed in surprise. Your back met with the odd texture of the canvas as the blonde hovered over you. He almost looked like he didn’t know where to start; like this was what he’s been dreaming of for so long. And maybe… it was.

He reached around you to find your bra strap and unclipped it, pulling the garment from your body. A smile reached his face as he grabbed your wrist of the hand with the yellow paint. “I’ll show you what we’re doing with yellow.” Swiping his hands in the paint, he rubbed them together before his palms found their home against your breasts, squeezing them in the process. His lips found yours again as he finally leaned down to kiss you again, your hands going to his bare back to rub some paint into his skin. Luke ground his hips against yours and you moaned in pleasure, bucking your hips to meet his as he did it again. His right hand left your chest as he let it trail down your body to the shorts you had been wearing. Hooking his fingers inside of them, they were soon pulled down your legs and he realized you hadn’t been wearing any underwear.

Your face flushed with red as his hand gripped your hip tightly, nails digging into your skin. Luke slowed the kissing to take your bottom lips between his, sucking harshly as he pulled away. Giving you a knowing look, he glanced down between your bodies. “I don’t like wearing underwear, what’s the problem?”

“Nothing at all, it’s perfect.” Scooting down the canvas, his lips met with the skin of your sternum, making their way lower and lower. Anxiety flooded through your veins as your beathing became staggered. Although you had plenty of experience, no one had really spent their time on you. Luke’s hand came up next to your head, grabbing the red paint. “Give me your hands. I want to see how good I’m about to make you feel.” Your heart raced as you held out your hands to him, watching as he drowned your skin in the color before tossing it to the side. A few drops sprinkled your torso, and the blonde simply rubbed it in, but you were sure it was just to feel you more. Your eyes bored into his as your teeth chewed at your lip. Luke pushed your thighs apart as he dove in between them, his tongue licking up your folds which left you arching your back against the canvas. Red hands slapping against the texture, your head lulled back. You could feel Luke smirk against your core as he worked your bundle of nerves, loving the way your legs shook like you had been touch deprived.

“Fuck, I hate that you’re so good at this,” you managed to get out, jerking up as he hit the right spot. Your climax was close, you could feel it lurking up on you.

“Who’s good at this?” The man asked. The audacity he had irked you, but at this moment, you couldn’t care less.

“Luke,” you moaned out, a hand finding his shoulder as your orgasm approached quickly. As if he knew, he pulled his mouth away from you, breathless. “What the fuck?”

A laugh escaped his lips as he began peeling away at his final layer of clothing, but you couldn’t help but get excited. Sitting up from the canvas, you decided to splatter some paint against the white before laying back down, awaiting his presence. “I might’ve been good at going down on you, but I’m great at-“ Without letting another word leave his lips, you wrapped your legs around him and yanked him down against you, laughing as he slipped against the wet paint.

“I bet you’d be great at fucking me if you kept your mouth shut, yeah?”

Your words only excited Luke as he finally slipped out of his pants, kicking them off. “God, you’re so nice.” Giggling, you silenced him with a quick kiss, feeling his hard member pressing against the inside of your thigh. Spreading your legs, you felt Luke position himself at your entrance before pushing himself in agonizingly slow. He wrapped an arm securely around your back, holding you close to him as he watched your face twist with pleasure. Pulling almost all the way out, he allowed for a second to pass before gliding back in all the way, grinding his hips into yours. That alone almost caused you to come undone, but you held out. Luke’s free hand reached around your leg to palm your ass as he thrusted in you once more. And that’s when you decided you had enough teasing.

“Oh, for fucks sake, Luke, please go faster, harder, I don’t care just fuck me senseless.”

“Can I get that on paper?” He teases, lifting himself from you and grabbing at your waist, feeling it out for a second. In the past three years he never thought to have you beneath him, naked. Did he think about it more often than he should’ve? Yes, yes, he did. His thumbs found their home in the divot of your hips, watching as he guided himself out of you slowly and how good it looked; felt. A whiny moan escaped your lips as you stared at his actions, wondering what was going on in his head.

“Please,” you begged once more.

It didn’t take much for Luke to cut the crap before he finally thrusted inside of you harder than before. In all truth, he wanted to make this moment last as long as possible before you went back to hating him again. It could be your only good day together. Deciding to say fuck it, he fell to your level and pressed his lips against yours. Fortunately for him, you had the same thing racing through your head. You wanted this to last as long as possible. Luke leaned to one side, holding one of your legs open as he deep stroked inside of you, leaving your chest heaving. Leaning up on your elbows, you attempted to switch the position in a way to get a better angle with him. Luke seemed to understand your movements and pulled away for you to get situated. Pushing him back, he was left sitting against the wet paint of the canvas causing you to let out a giggle before straddling him. His arms snaked around your waist to guide you back down to him. A deep groan bubbled from his throat as his face buried into your neck, forgetting all about the different colors of paint that decorated his cheeks. Your arm hooked around his back as your legs wrapped around him, resting on the canvas and you swiveled your hips against his. Luke caught on and relaxed into the new position, propping himself up with his hands against the canvas, pushing himself up to meet with your hips. You pulled him in close, pressing your lips to his as the pace slowed down. Your body shook slightly with the movements you made, so Luke put it upon himself to wrap his arms back around you to guide you to your orgasm, thrusting his hips up with yours. Speeding up, a knot formed in your stomach as you rode him faster, digging your nails into his back as your climax finally began unraveling. A pornographic moan left your lips as a spur of curses echoed throughout the room from him, signaling he had come as well.

Falling against him tiredly, you rested your head against his shoulder while trying to regain your breath. Sweat coated the two of you heavily, making some of the paint on your faces to wear off. Luke released his arms from around you, pushing your hips forward to see your face. It was red as he had expected it to be, but he couldn’t think of anything better to look at. The fresh afterglow of sex radiated off you, and he wanted to be able to see it all the time. A breathy laugh escaped his lips as he tucked your hair behind your ear. Your eyes met his, and realization set in on what just happened. Slowly crawling off him, you made sure not to mess up the paint, and helped him to his feet as well. Though you both were still naked, the two of you stood over the canvas, cocking your heads to the side to admire the work you created.

Crossing your arms, you grinned proudly. “How’s that for abstract art?”

Luke cackled at your statement. “Should we present it to Pat?” Your eyes met his and mischief was the only thing evident in them.

“I think that’s a great idea.” You say, combing your fingers through your hair. “Do you have any greater ideas? Maybe one about how the hell we’re going to get this paint off?”

Luke smiled, walking over to a large duffle bag on the other side of the room. He pulled out some old overalls and tossed them to you. “It’ll have to do until you can get to a shower, but for now that’s all I have.” Taking him up on his offer, you pulled on the article of clothing.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” You ask, already knowing his answer. Maybe it was the fact that you didn’t want to part from him, or that you wanted to stay longer. Luke nodded as he clipped on his overalls.

“Definitely.” Figuring that was the end of it, you gathered your belongings in a plastic bag and made your way to the door, thinking to clean up tomorrow. Before you could grab the handle, your wrist was caught from behind you. “Wait, are you on birth control?”

You were disappointed in his words but looked at him with amusement anyways. “Yes, Luke. I’m on the pill.” Gently tugging your wrist, you tried to get it out of his grasp, but he only pulled you closer as his lips met with yours for one last lingering kiss. A sigh left you as you kissed him back.

“I just wanted to do that again,” he says quietly, pushing his forehead against yours. With a quick roll of your eyes, you left the studio with a satisfied grin and paint covered. But the only thing on your mind was the next time you and Luke would be making new pieces together.

#luke hemmings smut #5sos smut #luke 5sos #luke hemmings imagines #luke hemmings #lukehemmings #5sauce

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lukel0ver · 6 months

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WATCHING THE 5SOS SHOW AGAIN <33

#five seconds of summer #spotify #5 seconds of summer #5sos #5sosedit #the 5sos show tour #5 secs of summer #this day in 5sos history #malum #calum hood #lukehemmings 5sos #luke hemming imagines #luke 5sos #5sos luke #luke hemmings #calum 5 seconds of summer #5sos calum #calum 5sos #5sos show

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unkindnessofone · 7 years

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5SOS. One Nest

This was a tough one to write. I don’t know how good it is. I know some people might not like it but it was highly requested. Probably helpful to read Rooms You're Tall In first. Enjoy. There’s a lot of stuff I want to write more on that happens in this story, let me know what you think! It’s also dedicated to my beloved @rotten-kandy who is always so supportive and nice to me. An absolute sweetie!

Dry from cleaning Daphne's car with more elbow grease than he was used to exerting these days, Luke took his uncomfortable hands on a search for salvation in the drawers of his wife's vanity in their bedroom. It wasn't as if he was snooping because it was where he often sat while she tweezed his eyebrows, trimmed his hair, or just harassed her with his mouth and hands while she tried to wax her own upper lip or attach her false eyelashes before going out. Plus Cagney was sitting right there, legs crossed as she listened intently to her daughter on the phone. Usually, the three just Skyped, but every now and again someone would ring up the other for a check in. Luke glanced at the time on his own phone in the pocket of his jeans and figured it was very early in the morning for Penelope. She was probably on her way to school or still just eating breakfast beforehand.

“I know what it's like. I've been there.” Cagney nodded at the end of both her sentences, offering her daughter some empathy before leaning into her advice. “It's nice to consider everyone's feelings, but you need to do what's best for you at the end of the day.” She had always told that to her children. When Miles had debated quitting football briefly, when March didn't want to go to another kid's birthday party, and when she was trying to get Penelope to reconsider going out on the weekend when there were exams to study for. Cagney very much believed in letting her kids make their own choices, but she still wanted to steer for them when they allowed her to. “I know he's your best friend.” Luke's interest was peeked and he stopped actually looking for his wife's hydrating hand cream and just stared at her profile while shuffling around aimlessly in her top left drawer. “Well, he is responsible for his choices and actions and you are responsible for yours. You can't make someone else's mind up for them.” Luke nodded in agreement even though he knew how frustrating that fact could be. He still was getting teased by his friend's for once roaring, over a decade ago, that everything would just be better if people did what he wanted. Calum and Skye had vowed to never let him live it down.”Alright, Pen. Have a great day at school, try not to think about it.” She didn't think her driven and usually relaxed daughter should have any trouble with compartmentalizing. “Do you want to talk to your dad before you go?” Luke stood up straight and reached for the phone eagerly. “Okay, I love you.” Cagney moved her cellphone from her ear and ended the call. “What are you looking for?” She asked before putting her phone down between her round brush and dry shampoo can.

“Hand cream.” Luke sighed, disappointed that Penelope hadn't said so much as 'hello' to him. He had talked to her just the other day in the morning out of the blue, but he wanted every opportunity to hear how she was. France was far away, but with her there, it felt even further. Of course, he understood she was probably running late for school and that was the priority.

Cagney opened up the top drawer on her other side and produced an apricot scented tube from the drug store, “I re-organized.” She told him with a smile before tending the open Zuca kit behind her, shifting around on the chair to sift through it. She had an upcoming girl's trip with Simone in a few days, joining one of her closest friends as a hairstylist and shopping buddy while she went to different stores where her jewelry was sold among the boroughs of New York. Cagney had been worried about leaving with March being so down in the dumps, but Luke was on vacation from all his producing jobs and his own creative work that she felt better about being going away. He and Luke had been becoming closer and Cagney thought there couldn't be a better time for them to delve into bonding.

“How is Pen?” On the edge of the bed, massaging his hands together thoroughly with just a dime size of lotion, Luke enquired. He would have been satisfied with just a quick 'good' or 'great', but he knew Cagney would give him more details. The kids talked to them about different things. Cagney always managed to earn their gossip and emotional rants while Luke earned more practical questions and what they should ethically do in real and hypothetical situations.

“She seemed a little stressed.” It was a sentence neither of them had uttered about their eldest and it was also one they had never heard about her. Luke completely stopped what he was doing, hand lotion bottle open beside him and hands still clasped together, and just zoned in on the straight center part of his wife's perfectly blown out hair. “She is in a love triangle. Well, kind of.” It wasn't as if they knew how Jules felt. To quote Penelope, 'He's just being so wonderful and French, so I don't know!'

“Is that what you two were talking about when I walked in?” He had only heard what Cagney's advice to her was. She didn't keep the volume on her phone as loud as he did his, Luke couldn't make out anything being said on the other end of the call.

“Yeah. She doesn't want to hurt anyone, you know? Connor and her apparently had a fight when he came in because he thought they would just pick up where they left off here and Penelope's met someone else that she thinks she might like.” While Miles had been lusting over every male and female body on the beach since he was about eleven and March had lost count of the girls on television that he had tickled his pickle to, Penelope was always unconcerned when it came to romantic feelings and relationships. She just always found other paths more interesting. It wasn't as if guys didn't pursue her and one particularly relentless female, but Penelope never really cared enough to try. Both Cagney and Luke figured this French guy must have been somebody special to capture the attention of their cool daughter.

“You told her to just do what she wants?” He paraphrased from his wife's response that he only could half recall now and closed up the lotion's tube with his much nicer feeling hands.

“I think that's pretty solid advice.” If Connor or this Jules fellow talked to their parents, which she doubted, Cagney assumed they would hear the same thing.

“I don't know.” Luke mused as he stood up and stretched. His arms and knees were sore from a lifetime of playing music physically as well as just from the last hour he spent with March scrubbing at the paint that refused to part ways with Daphne's car windows.

“What? You've never liked two people at the same time before?” Cagney finally looked up from her bag, two large cans of hairspray in one hand and asked Luke with a humored smile. When she met him in London in the Sassoon salon, he was in fourteen different tabloid articles all with different girls. She figured somewhere in that time he must have accidentally sent a text for one girl to another or found himself on a date with a pretty blond while thinking of some other model. He was young and had the world at his fingertips after all.

“I don't think we should be getting into this.” Luke advised her as a warning before putting her lotion back in the wrong drawer. He leaned down and kissed her, a small peck on the lips. “I'm going to go to my studio.” He informed her and headed out the bedroom, changing the vibe as he petered out. It had been a long time since Cagney thought back to when they were new parents of twins, to before Luke managed to get his fear or missing out and his lust for approval under control, to when they both were the worst versions of themselves. It was before all the therapy, when the largest crack in their relationship existed, jagged, right down the middle.

-----------------

It was where he felt he really shone. Shirt off, skin to skin, laying somewhat upright with one of his infant sons on his chest. Luke felt pretty unimportant when his children were first born. He couldn't produce food for them and he didn't have the forty (or thirty eight and a half in the case of the twins) weeks of bonding that Cagney did with them. So he just took to the instructions of his wife and helped out like a half diligent and half dimwitted intern. When it came to soothing though, Luke knew he could do that and do it well. It was where he had the chance to comfort and bond with them. Depending on the mood of the baby, he would just tell them about his dad or he would sing low one of his favourite songs. He had bathed and put Penny to sleep in order to take a load off Cagney while she fed Miles his last meal of the night. When March grew fussy as soon as Luke put Penelope's bedroom light out, he groaned tired and took off down the hall of their Sydney home to the nursery. Instantly, he had his small screaming son in both hands and held him against the exposed part of his hairy chest under his shirt. Once seated in the rocking chair, a gift from Gigi Hadid when Cagney was pregnant with Penelope, and he snuggled March close while carefully unbuttoning a few more buttons to give March more warm skin. He was only eleven weeks old and the world was still a cold scream in comparison to his mother's water bed womb.

Once back asleep, Luke stayed put in the chair. His own body was exhausted and he was running a deficit with sleep himself. He closed his blue eyes and hung his head back while his knees kept the chair rocking slightly. It was another thirteen minutes before he forced himself to stand up, rest March back into his crib, and leave the room with a trace of his kiss on both the babies soft heads of barely blond hair.

Luke was ready to crash. He had been since he dragged his body that felt like swamp water and sludge home around five in the morning. He would have collapsed on the couch if the babies hadn't been up and Cagney, along with his mom, weren't sitting on the couch with both twins, the two of them screaming in unison. It had been natural for Luke to rush in and help. It bought him a little time to think of a good argument about why he was out all night for when his Mom asked. He knew she would.

Luke walked to his room with shut eyes. They only peeled open when a gust of wind hit him much to his surprise. When he spied into his bedroom, he saw a mess of his clothes everywhere - mostly jackets - and Cagney furiously shaking them, checking the pockets and throwing them on the floor. She was half in their spacious walk in wardrobe and half in the main room. She didn't stop when Luke came closer, she didn't even notice him there.

"Looking for something?" Luke leaned his shoulder and hip into the door frame and just watched her for a moment. He hated how attractive she looked when she was on a mission. He secretly loved watching her at a photo shoot where she was crunched for time and trying to finish Michael's hair. The serious look that took over her stare always hooked him in.

"I don't know." Cagney sighed, dropping his vintage John Varvatos motorcycle jacket to the grown with a groan. She really didn't know if she wanted to find something or not.

"What's going on?" He inquired through a yawn, one hand lazily trying to shield his open mouth.

"You tell me." Cagney swiped at the mess around her bare feet, grabbing the collar of the dirty jean jacket he had worn out the night before and tossing it at him, just barely missing his face. Luke fumbled and caught the item of clothes right before it met the floor again.

"I don't understand..." Sincerely clueless and confused, Luke responded and looked over the frayed lining of one of his favourite jackets. He really had no idea what she was so frazzled about, but Luke assumed they were both just too tired to communicate well.

"There's fucking coke in the pocket." She surprised Luke so quickly with her curse, something she didn't have a habit of doing, that he didn't notice her charge at him to pull at the jacket without concern for its material. She reached into the chest pocket and whipped out the tiny bag and it's even tinier white dust.

"Jesus, Keg. You went through my jacket?" It had been lying on the bed from when he peeled off his sweat and liquor scented clothes from the night before. It was Luke's turn to be disappointed.

"You lied to me!" Cagney had some inkling that his friend's birthday was more than just shots and staying up til the sun rose. She recognized the gray tone of Luke's skin from the one other time she had seen him after a night of countless bumps. It had been a few months after they officially began dating and she told him right then that it wasn't her scene. Luke had shrugged his way through an explanation, telling her he only did it once in a while when offered and that if she didn't like it, he wouldn't do it.

"What?"

"I asked you if you did coke this morning right before we showered." With three small kids, they hadn't been able to be as intimate and sexual as they had been when they only Penelope to consider. Thankfully Liz had offered to take Penny for lunch while the twins napped, giving Cagney and Luke time to spend together. "You said ‘no’ and then we had sex!" She felt absolutely furious.

"I don't really remember doing it, okay? It's not mine." He could be honest when he said he had never actually spent any money on cocaine.

"I don't think it's unreasonable to not want coke in the house!" They had small children wandering around. Cagney had a sick feeling that if Penny had found it somehow she would have thought it was candy and eaten it.

"Of course. It shouldn't be in here, I agree. If I knew I had it on me..."

"I don't want you to go out as much!" The words rushed out of her mouth before they even ran through her brain. Cagney was gripping at her messy ponytail and squinting her eyes shut. She was exhausted and now she was angry with her husband, the combination made her chest ache terribly. She realized only then in the silence that she was trembling.

"Okay..." Luke hated being told what to do, but he could see her body shaking under her generous gray shirt and black capri leggings. It was her uniform since having twins. She refused a nanny despite the many recommendations she was given. "Keg, I don't do coke." With trepidation, Luke began to approach her, stepping through his jackets and dress shirts. "You know I'm not an addict..."

"You party all the time."

"You've gone out since the twins were born." It wasn't as if she became June Cleaver after Penelope was born. She and Luke had always been really proud that they still went out even when Penelope was first born. They would spend their mornings exploring new cities as a family of three and then leave Penny with a sitter or Liz while hitting an after party, making out like teens before doing it all over again.

"I went out once to dinner with Grace. I had two glasses of wine and was home by midnight." She had felt guilty the whole time. "I don't believe you when you say you don't do coke." The signs were all stacking up in her mind. Her shoulder shook on purpose, forcing the hand Luke placed on her to slip off.

"Are you serious?" His eyes narrowed in on her and framed her tightly. Luke forgot all about his exhaustion as he felt himself be insulted by his wife.

"You have a problem. You're so fucking scared of missing out on a good time, so you stay out and get messed up with all your 'yes' people." She was overwhelmed with three small children and she knew Luke was as well, but they were choosing it to handle it differently. She was trying to do it all by herself like superwoman and he was trying to pretend his life hadn't drastically changed eleven weeks ago. “You don't want to grow up.”

“I am trying to make both my lives work!” He roared. Luke didn't expect Cagney to get it, not when they were both this overtired. He had to still be Luke Hemmings the rock star and the diligent husband and adoring father of three. It was not easy to strike an equal balance of the two very different lives. “When I'm out, I'm disappointing you and when i'm home, I'm disappointing everyone else.” He felt the strain no matter what he did. When he skipped album release parties and industry events to stay home with his family in Australia, Luke received countless annoyed texts or vaguely threatening emails from his management just like when he did fly elsewhere for a couple days he could feel the irritation from his wife. He fallen for her because of her warmth and understanding, but he had come to know she knew how to cast a chilly breeze with a single glance.

Luke had moved away from her now, thrusting his arms through his beloved denim jacket. He wasn't planning to leave though there was always somewhere for him to go. He was just overheating with anger and needed to do something with his hands. Cagney just watched him with utter disgust. It was an expression she hadn't ever given to him before. He had seen it before when she was cross with paparazzi coming to close, when another woman told Luke that she was okay being the other woman right in front of her, but it was never directed at Luke before and he had to look away. The sight of it brought shame shooting through his body. He felt dry and oily all at once. There was no amount of cleansing to rid him of how gross he felt.

“Well, I'm sorry that we are cramping your style here.” She overannunciated every word, making sure each vowel hit him before she kicked away the jacket closest to her and rushed out of their walk-in. “But don't worry, you keep bringing drugs into the house and partying til 5 in the morning, I promise we won't be here anymore.”

“Is that a threat? Fuck.” He growled right back, feeling the heat of her threat and reacting promptly without any though. “Are you fucking threatening me?” This was ugly now. They were headed to Michael and Grace territory, a place they promised not to go after listening through a hotel room wall to Grace throwing objects and Michael roaring like a poked and prodded tiger in it's cage. Luke knew, in the back of his mind, if they weren't so tired that things wouldn't have come to this, if he hadn't stayed out this wouldn't have happened.

“If you want to be Luke Hemmings, Party Monster, go for it. We'll be in Minnesota and we will not miss you and your hungover bullshit.” Cagney's finger ripped through the space between her and Luke. She nearly poked him right between the eyes.

“That's not funny, Cagney. Don't say that.” Luke could admit, maybe quietly between friends or to his older brothers, that he had been losing control lately. He was anxious when he missed out on a party somewhere, he craved the burn of whiskey down his throat the moment it hit six PM, and he liked being the center of attention. He wasn't under the spotlight at home and that was hard. Still, he couldn't stand the thought of his children being taken away from him. He hadn't realized how ungrateful he was that he was allowed to see them whenever he wanted and as much as he wanted. He had a job that allowed him to bring them with him. He didn't have to stress about daycare or family trips. He was lucky and, if he kept messing up, he would lose comforting his sons against his chest or splashing in the shallow end with toddler Penny.

“I'm not joking.” Her tone of voice made that crystal clear. “Go. I don't want to sleep near you tonight. I can't even look at you – bringing cocaine in the house. We are not these people.” She began to walk away from him, hands on her hips as she counted between her inhale and exhales.

“What do you want me to do, Keg?” Luke gasped, throwing his arms out at his side's like a scarecrow just to drop them against his ribs. He watched her backside and waited, hoping she would turn around and face him with the same kind eyes he had proposed to.

“I want you to be the person you promised me you'd be!” She went to scream, but instead, began to sob. Cagney's chest sunk inward as she stopped walking. She curled up in the middle of the room, hugging her stomach, and bawling. “I want you to be who Penny needs you to be.” Very slowly, as Luke crept up behind her with caution, Cagney turned around and squeaked. Luke opened up his arms to allow her in. He touched her like she was glass, but she pushed away while shaking her head expeditiously. “No!” She shouted and jumped away. “Be better. Get better. If you need to go away to do that or if we need to make changes, whatever. Just don't be this guy.” When the brought Penelope home, Luke was a dream. He was attentive and interested while also scared, but they were both in over their heads with the twins. Somehow, Cagney was laying on the door in the middle of the ocean while Luke had let go and was inviting water into his lungs.

He didn't need her to push him away anymore. He left the mess in their closet and walked out of the room. Luke would have rather stayed and comforted Cagney, but she refused to let him so he went downstairs to the basement to sleep by himself. As he shut off the hallway light, he passed by the twins room. There was no noise, not even the sound of a mobile or creak, so he kept walking. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted half of Penny's curious face through the forced crack between her door and it's frame. He and his wife bickering must have alarmed her. Luke locked his eyes with her and reached out to push her door open with a heavy sigh, but she took off running into her bed as quick as her very small feet could carry her. Luke decided to let it go. He was too tired. Simply, he took himself to the basement and brought out a fur blanket to sleep under in his underwear. His cell phone was lit up on his stomach when he awoke an hour after drifting off. Two year old Penelope Hemmings was crawling over his long legs without any knowledge on how to be discreet.

“I love you, Papa.” She whispered through the dark. Luke sleepily blew her a kiss with just his lips before moving the blanket behind his knees, allowing her to burrow behind them and stay warm with him.

-----------

It felt like years had gone by like speeding cars since he was last in front of Calum Hood and Skye Pierre's house. Of course, it had only been a few months since March last pulled up on his bike to pick up Daphne with the handles as a seat and bike downtown to hang out with a bunch of their friends doing nothing with slushie drinks in hand. When the two teenagers were together, they spent most of their time at the Hemmings house, but March had still become something of a staple in Calum's doorway where he would often wait for Daphne to finish getting ready. He had sat in the living room with Daphne, sprawled out over the coffee table, and helped her with her homework while finishing his own. March still felt like Skye's gravy was the best that he had ever had and that included a lot of five star meals and his mom's home cooking. Of course, he had not mentioned this fact to his mom.

March breathed slowly like his Dad had advised him to when he felt outside of the control room of his emotions. He watched his nervous and shaking hands on the steering wheel and didn't turn off Daphne's car until the anxiety subsided. Once the car was off, March pushed open the door and freed himself of the nostalgic scent of leather seats and Daphne's favorite perfume to spray after dance class in an attempt to mask her body sweat. As he walked around front of the car, he heard another door close. He was halfway up the driveway, just next to Skye's SUV when Daphne appeared in comfortable sweatpants and tight ribbed magenta sweater that pulled over her breasts that barely fit inside the fabric. Her hair was folded lopsided into a giant messy bun on top her head and March drove his eyes into the different twirls of chocolate hair to keep himself from gawking at the curves he missed touching.

“Here you go.” He reached forward with her keys, the oversized pink glittery cupcake fob on the end dangling in the space between them. “It's clean.”

After taking the keys, Daphne turned her head to stare at her car, previously covered in uppercase hate, and discreetly nodded in agreement that it was now clean. In fact, unless someone had seen it earlier in the evening, they would never know it had been vandalized.

“You didn't have to do that, you know?” Through her always breathy voice, Daphne told him. She wanted to look him in the eyes, but she hadn't been able to since coming out for longer than a second. Daphne just kept referring back to the heavy key fob in her hands as if it was more interesting than March's sharp blue gaze.

“I did, actually.” A hiccup of laughter choked it's way up March's throat at her comment. “You know how my Dad feels about being told 'no' when he asks us to do something.”

“True.” Daphne chuckled back. She hadn't realized this was the first pleasant exchange they shared since breaking up. It felt very naturally for them both. “Thank you. All of you guys.”

“Just so you know Miles didn't help at all.” While he had been nervous about dropping off the car and wished his Dad had just done it himself since he was the one who drove it to the car wash from the football game, March now felt relaxed. It was just him and the girl who meant everything to him. Her day had ended with bullying, so he didn't want to pile onto her anymore with the feelings that tormented him all the time. “He says he twisted his ankle at his game, so it was just me, my dad, and Taylor who worked on your car.” March was a twin before he was anything else and there was no way the guy older than him by just a few minutes was getting the credit for his hard work.

“You don't believe him?” Daphne dropped her keys into one pocket of her sweatpants before gripping her hip and asking with two brows raised so high that they disappeared under her messy bangs.

“Nope. I twist my ankle on my board all the time. He's hamming it up so he can lay around and watch TV and get out of washing a car.”

“He just had a football game.”

“Are you team Miles now? You don't have to be team March, but that's a low blow.” It was a fluid interaction. March had been teasing Daphne since they were as tall as their parent's shins. They just melted back into themselves on the driveway. They were laughing into one another's smiles and March was hoping time would stand still so he wouldn't have to say 'goodbye'.

“No!” Daphne shook her head and playfully retorted. “Twisted ankles hurt. I'm team be nice to your brother.”

“Fair, that's on brand.” March folded his arms around his chest as he laughed. A small silence stepped between them and he considered filling it. He could damper the moment with an apology for previous behavior, he could ask her how school was going and pretend to care about small talk, or he could reveal to her what everybody already knew by telling her he wanted her to be his girlfriend again. Daphne rubbed her lips over one another again and again, wondering what he would say if she invited him in or if she even had the right to know if he had hooked up with somebody since they broke up. “My board is in your backseat. I'm going to get it and go.” He told her and shuffled a few steps away, moving his arms down and pushing his hands into the pocket of his tight jeans.

“Okay, but don't leave yet.” She froze him by saying in a quiet rush. Daphne took off running back into her house and March waited patiently by her car's backseat door. He had no idea what was happening, but he was hopeful that she would come flying back out to kiss him or something like that. A guy could dream.

Instead, right as he reached in for his skateboard, he heard Daphne's front door close again and when he turned around, she was standing steps away from him with a a large Tupperware square. It wasn't her lips reglossed and all over his, but he could tell from the transparent edge that it was something with chocolate and that was a decent second.

“I made these to say 'thanks'.” She reached out to give him, figuring the brownies were secured enough for him to skateboard home with them. “Don't eat them all. Save some for your Dad and Taylor.” She supposed anybody else who wanted them as well. “There's pecans in them since Penny isn't at home.”

“Man, I've eaten so much peanut butter since she left.” He laughed mostly at himself, one palm on his belly so he could pat it as if it was full of only the food that could literally kill his older sister. “Thanks.” March took the Tupperware as soon as his board was on the ground. “And hey, Daph, if someone is being shitty to you at school, tell me.” He played it cool, running his empty hand through his hair, but March meant what he was saying as law.

“I didn't know if you'd care...” She admitted to her feet and the cement like it was an embarrassing secret.

“I'll always care.” As soon as he admitted it and her wide eyes went in on him, March wished he had kept that to himself. “And I'd happily rip the hands off of whoever wrote that shit on your car. Do you know who did it?” March had his own theories himself, but he didn't know as much about Daphne's life anymore. Maybe, she had a new enemy. He couldn't imagine the soft spoken dancer purposefully hurting anyone.

“I really don't.” She knew she wasn't exactly cool, but Daphne didn't think anyone hated her that much.

“Well, they're wrong. You're not those things and you're my friend. So let me know if it happens again.” March's stomach was feeling twisted inside. He felt like he had said too much and he might as well have been standing naked in front of her. “I really would kill whoever did it.” He promised again. “See you tomorrow.” He held the brownies against the side of his ribs and took off quickly, leaving Daphne to watch him skate away before moving her car into the garage. She felt better somehow. It seemed like things with March might be okay for now. She knew they may never go back to normal and that they might not actually be friends, but it was nice to hear him say so anyway.

= ~~~~~

Most days, Penelope's schedule was the same. She went to school, studied, and then took the subway for three stops to arrive back in her neighborhood and just a few blocks away from the restaurant she worked in for both money and experience. She was lucky because since she wasn't a culinary prodigy or had a plethora of experience in a kitchen, her routine still felt like a wild adventure where anything could happen. It was that kind of excitement that Penelope needed to stay interested in something. It was one of the many reasons she loved to surf back before she was chronically concussed. No matter how talented or well seasoned you were on your board, nobody ruled the water and you could encounter a challenge to conquer with every wave. Sometimes, experimenting with recipes gave her the same feeling. When something went wrong on her stove top or she had a few, but strange ingredients in her cupboard, she felt hugely successful when a good meal came through.

Penelope was wrestling her arms out of her lined autumn denim coat and into her white chef's jacket as she raced down the last block before work. She usually made impeccable time, but one of her instructors had asked her to stay after class to talk to her about getting a weekend of next month to go to the small town of Uzerche to visit and tour a cattle farm. He thought it would be an excellent opportunity for her since the closest thing she had been to was a petting zoo. He also really liked Penelope, much more than their pastry instructor did. Mademoiselle Valerie thought that Penelope lacked any instincts and criticized her work at any opportunity. Cerise always just told Penny it was because she was half American and Mademoiselle Valerie felt that French technique belonged to, simply, French people.

She pushed open the kitchen door and expected to be greeted by steam and the scent of rosemary olive oil. Instead, she nearly collided with the faux gold buttons of a flashy coat she had seen a few times before. It belonged to Jules, he was just getting off his first job at the hotel. He was early as he usually didn't come to work before the sun had set. Penelope really thought she would be able to be completely avoid him their entire shift together, the first day they worked together since she had revealed her feelings for him last weekend. It wasn't as if there was much free time when you were working in a kitchen or on stage anyway. She planned to just keep her head down, do her job, and ignore the beautiful Ferrer Rocher eyes of Jules Archambault and his spicy cologne. Now she had no choice, but to greet him since he had already said 'Bonjour, Penelope' and turned his attention away from the bulletin board to face her.

“'Allo Jules.” She said inwardly, focusing more on doing up the front of her clean uniform.

“Do you have time to chat?” He asked sanguinely, eyes full of hope and his smile as inviting as a formal letter from a royal suggesting a tea date.

“No. Sorry.” It wasn't really a lie. She did have to join the line in under two minutes unless she wanted the head chef to take a Wusthof to her throat and serve her like croutons with the evening's salade special. “I'm late today.” She was not proud of that fact.

“It'll just take a second.” He knew it wasn't common for her work to come without scheduled breaks and once he was on stage, he couldn't just step down to talk to whoever he wanted. Even if they were as lovely as Penelope Hemmings was to him.

“Can you text it?” She didn't generally have the chance to look at her phone until after work, but that way he would have whatever he was holding onto off his chest and she could answer when she had actual time. “Or is it really bad?” Penelope didn't want him to consider her a bad friend even though she was feeling out of her element standing before him with her having been so honest last time they were together. Still, if Jules needed a shoulder, she wanted to be there for him.

“No, it's not bad. I just....No, it can wait.” He didn't wrestle with himself. He sighed inwardly and began to walk away. He wasn't very fond of his doormen uniform and was eager to strip it off him anyway. “Have a great shift.” He wished Penelope before disappearing from her line of sight, presumably headed to the back office to hang up his bright blue jacket where he usually hung up the hat he often was made to wear with it.

Penelope finally exhaled after holding her breath tightly through their exchange. She was scurrying over to her place in line across from Alexandra, but the very moody French woman, the Daria of the kitchen, waved at her with a cleaver to turn around. Penny stood still and squinted at her workmate. It was challenging to read the girl's lips as they were thin by design and she didn't speak English fluently. Eventually, after a couple tries, Penelope figured out that she was telling her to turn around, but she didn't know why.

“I've got this! Go talk to him!” Alexandra finally just shouted over the room of bodies, the simmering pans, and the curses of other line cooks. Since discovering that her beautiful blond friend was a virgin, Alexandra felt inspired to help her romantically somehow. She saw the way Penelope sunk into hypnosis when they watched Jules play drums. It was obvious the Australian-American was two steps away from being a full fledged fan girl which was Penelope's greatest fear since she grew up being scared of the girls who chased her in her dad's arms or screamed outside their car when she was a small baby.

Penelope rolled her eyes and then did as she was shouted to. She trusted that if anyone could help her weasel her way out of the wrath of the kitchen talking heads, it was Alexandra. Alexandra was a woman who had spent her life proving how good she was and now she didn't take shit from anyone. One day, if she was able to grow up, Penny wanted to be just like her.

Fidgeting with her hands together in front of her, as if she was playing cat's cradle with the air, she followed the way Jules had gone until she spotted him between the chef's office and the manager of the restaurant’s. He was wearing just his brown chinos, black socks, and nothing else. With her manners gone for a moment, Penelope just gawked. It was like the first time Simone saw Ashton backstage after going to a 5 Seconds of Summer concert for the first time. His hair was coated in sweat, his eyes were held captive by exhaustion, but his body was a maze of surprises and subtle brush strokes. Penny was in desperate need of a sit down talk with her Aunt Simone that would include a lot of wine. She wanted to know everything about dating a drummer as long as her aunt could leave out any stories of her Uncle Ashton naked.

“You change back here?” She pulled herself out of her stare to step forward and interrupt Jules. He squinted at her before pulling his head through an undershirt and then started to force his arms through the sleeves of a recently dry cleaned white shirt. “It's still technically a kitchen.” In her own apartment, sometimes Penelope would just wear an apron or a big shirt while cooking, but she felt like it was way more hygienic in a professional kitchen to have your body covered. “You should wear a hair net or something.” She half-joked.

“I thought you were a busy bee.” He shrunk the space between them, stepping into the open door frame between them and clutching both sides of it. His smirk was strong and Penelope just knew he was pleased she had returned.

“Alex has things under control at our station.” Penny shrugged quickly with one shoulder.

“Well, I was hoping you could send me your list of restaurants you want to go to here.” Jules informed her, holding her eye contact even when her eyes fell and just stared at his uniquely chiseled chin.

“Yeah, sure. I'll do it tonight when I'm home.” It was on her laptop on a spread sheet. She wrote down what she ordered, what she thought, and what she wanted to try to make herself after her experience there. It was very nerdy and she refused to show anyone, so she would have to just take the restaurant names and text them to him.

“Okay.” She was so obliging that Jules wasn't able to really get his point across. “I know you're not working next Saturday until late,” The after hours crowd that was usually when he was on stage. “I thought we could cross a few places off. Breakfast, coffee, lunch, snack, maybe dinner if there's time.” Jules knew Penny couldn’t drive in France and wasn’t really supposed to be, but he felt like biking together would be safe.

“Yeah, that would be so fun. I already know where we could go for lunch.” Penelope may have had a long wishlist of places to try, but she also had spots that she loved already. L'as du Falafel was one of those beloved places and not just because her and her ate there twice when he helped her move to France.

“No, Penny,” He rarely called her by her shortened name and it flicked in her eyes as strange when he said it that way. “I'm trying to plan something. I'm asking you out on a date.” He came right out and just said it.

Penelope didn't realize it, but her mouth was hanging open. Her eyes were hooked onto the one pocket on the chest of his shirt as she stood still and stunned. It wasn't until Jules rested his head on his shoulder and forced himself into her view that she shut her mouth and laughed.

“Okay, sure.” She shrugged again, playing it cool. Connor appeared in her mind though. She was ten seconds into a mental dance party when her lifelong friend came into her mind with his ukulele and perfect teeth. “Can I actually get back to you?” She asked as Jules pushed himself off the door frame and further into the room to finish buttoning up his shirt. “I just want to make sure I don't have any plans already first.” It wasn't a lie. She did have to check with her school schedule, but Penelope also wanted to talk to Connor beforehand. She hadn't answered any of his six apology texts and they hadn't said anything to each other since she walked away from him and out of the club parking lot a few nights ago. It felt like a string pulling on her stomach, dragging her to unfinished business. She couldn't move forward until everything was settled.

“Sure, whatever you need.” Jules thought that she would agree instantly given that she had been the one to share her feelings with him, but his mother had warned him that American girls could be complicated even if she only gathered that from soap operas he downloaded for her.

-------

California didn't feel like home anymore. Even though she was American by birth, Cagney preferred their house in Australia. Now that she had three kids, she just felt as if she was waiting in someone else's life in their house in Burbank. They were only ever there because of Luke's work. It had been a week since their blow-up and while they were functioning fine, there was frost on the gears. She was more nervous in California since it seemed to her that there was more temptation and pressure for Luke there. She was trying not to lose her mind about it though. He was an adult and she couldn't control what he chose. She had two baby boys who needed her attention and body. She couldn't waste time trying to also raise Luke.

Accepting the night out as an opportunity to reconnect with her husband, Cagney took to the Capitol Records party with hopeful optimism. She invited Simone over so they could get dressed together, sharing a nanny for their five children for the evening. Cagney agreed to a black satin Theory dress that Simone picked for her despite not feeling as confident as she might have before harboring two babies inside her at once. It wasn't as if Cagney was ever a pillar of self-confidence. Still, she knew that she had not been making the same effort she once had due to her new schedule. Cagney blew out her hair the way she always wore it when she and Luke began dating, remembering how untamed he was with his hands when they would be sitting in a booth, surrounded by people, his calloused fingers running through her blond locks like they were his source of comfort, his Linus blanket when everything felt like too much.

At first, Cagney pretended she wanted to be there. She pushed herself to not check her phone in her clutch for the first hour. She smiled with the tip of her tongue pressed to the back of her teeth and even acted thrilled to see people she didn't remember ever having met. Still, Cagney just wanted to run out of the room, hop in the first Uber, and go back to her children. It was nice, she had to admit, to have Luke's hand on her backside though, guiding them both through the room, whispering the occasional name into ear. He even checked twice if she was having a good time and he pretended to believe her when she said she was happy.

Luke excused himself once he had his second drink in hand, leaving Cagney with Calum who had come alone since Skye was on bed rest in British Columbia. They were so excited to finally have a child together. It seemed like it was going to work out for them this time, but everybody was holding their breath. The struggle Calum and Skye had gone through had not only been brutal, but it had not been in private. Even people who disliked the pair were wishing them well. They were due soon and Calum's knees were bouncing nonstop. He couldn't wait to fly back to Canada to be with Skye and her underwhelming bump.

“Hey gorgeous.” A distant, but familiar voice forced Cagney to look up from her phone. She was just about to check her texts after showing Calum a few pictures of Miles and March, but she threw her head upward quickly. It didn't sound like Luke, but she hoped that it was. She worried about where he went or who he went with. While it wasn't Luke, she jumped up gleefully and wrapped her arms around her old friend, holding her phone behind his neck.

“God, I haven't seen you in so long!” In Dacre's ear, Cagney happily cooed as he squeezed her back, one hand where Luke's had been all night. “When was the last time I saw you?” When Luke wasn't touring, Cagney had the chance to take other jobs and early on, she had met Dacre Montgomery while shooting a video for VMAN. They became fast friends since she was dating an Australian at the time and he was Australian. They bonded fast and Luke had come to like him just as swiftly.

“You were pregnant but not the last time,” Through tabloids and the grapevine, he had heard she and Luke welcomed twin boys. “It was with your daughter. Penelope?” He had to guess.

“Yes!” Her eyes blinked rapidly, her fake lashes causing a small breeze down her face. It felt like ages since she had dressed herself up and put lipstick on let alone false lashes and earrings. “I heard you were just cast in a huge action film. Like a franchise.” Not knowing it could have been a rumour, Cagney gushed.

“Keep it down. I'm not allowed to say anything.” Laughing, he pretended to shush her before guiding her back to the both she was sitting at. As Cagney collected the back of her dress under one hand, she realized only then that Calum wasn't there anymore. He had gone to find a quiet spot in the crowded room in order to answer a call from Skye. “You look beautiful by the way.” Dacre mentioned off hand. “Where's your husband before I get in trouble for staring?” He only half teased. He had been disappointed many years back when they first met and she mentioned casually that she was in a committed relationship. He felt like she was something like a 70s bombshell with her big blond hair and girl-next-door smile.

“He's around here somewhere.” Cagney looked around, twirling her finger like a slow cyclone through the air beside her. “You know Luke, he knows everyone a little bit.” She half-laughed. Without realizing, Cagney melted into the way Dacre's eyes were biting at her. The attention was nice since she hadn't been feeling very pretty lately (or even very human) and she had felt so distant from Luke, more so than any time there had been an ocean between them.

“He would agree anyway.” Dacre laughed with a shrug of his shoulder to his ear. “You're gorgeous.” While they didn't see one another often, he always made sure to tell her that. He never had his chance with her, but it didn't mean he didn't wish for it.

“I don't know about that.” Rolling her eyes, she said truthfully. “It's hard to be sexy when you have two new babies and a toddler running around. This is the only thing I have without drool on it and it's not mine!” She joked and leaned into the booth behind her, genuinely enjoying herself and feeling relaxed for the first time since she and Luke fought in their closet back in Sydney.

-------

Empty. She was a Tamagotchi blinking rapidly to be recharged. Penelope felt drained after work. Taking a day off from her usual routine of school then work had given her body the opportunity to forget the stamina it had built up. She told herself that she would work on her assignment during her lunch hour tomorrow like she often did as Penny slowly pulled her body up the steps to the floor her apartment was on. She was dreaming of passing out on top of the blankets on her futon naked. It wasn't until Penny heard her phone buzzing in her purse as she dropped it by the front door of her small place that she remembered she had texted Connor, asking if they could talk. Grumbling to herself, Penelope locked her door and then bent down onto both knees to retrieve her phone. It was Connor.

"Salut? I mean, hi." She corrected herself and inhaled, giving herself one last shot of energy.

"Hey." On the other side, Connor sounded unsure of himself. He was goofy and confident around her, but she could hear the insecurities that she always knew he had through the phone. "You wanted to talk? You good?" They might have had their first fight, but Connor still cared about his best friend.

"Yeah, I'm good. I just walked through the door. How was Marseilles and Lyon?" There was a part of her that was buying time, but Penny also was genuinely curious. As awful as some of the things he had said to her had been, Penny was in the habit of reading any and all reviews she could find about Connor's songs and live performances. They were currently very mixed in France. The sentence 'Talented and truly adorable aren't enough to make Connor Wylie more than just a warm up act' stood out for Penelope, but she recalled reading about how much they had loved him in Berlin. The reviewer called him 'a blinding star absolutely necessary to keep an eye on'.

"Okay. I can't shake the feeling of...Sunday." He didn't want to be dramatic, but it was the truth. He was trying to devour the energy the crowds were giving to him graciously, but his mind was reeling over how guilty he felt and his body ached with regret.

"Yeah." She understood that. "I hate that I upset you like that."

"No, it was me. I know what it's like to like two people at once," Connor had gone through high school dreaming of Penelope while buying other girls cocoa and bracelets. "I could have been nicer." He should have been. "I was just disappointed, not that it's an excuse." He just really thought they would spend all his free time together with their bodies as close as they could be without fornicating in public.

"I'm sorry." Penny didn't worry about letting others down. She just wanted to live her best life. However there was something about crushing Connor's dreams that picked at her. She wanted them to raise one another up, she wanted them to find happiness simultaneously somehow.

"You don't have to be sorry. You don't owe me anything." On the other end of the phone, Connor's voice was dry. He was in need of the break he had finally had today, but talking to Penelope hurt so badly that it was as if he hadn't self medicated with copious cups of lemon and hot water all day. "Have you told Jules about your...crush?" Connor decided to try his best friend hat on again, making sure it still fit. He knew for a fact that Penelope had done things she didn't like doing for him, so he could pretend that asking about Jules didn't make him want to vomit all over the fluffy white hotel robe he had on while laying in bed in the dark.

"Connor," Penny almost laughed, knocking her head of messy hair falling out of its ponytail against the closed door. "I know you don't want to talk about that."

"I'm trying, Pen." As a reaction, he chuckled back at himself. She had never agreed to being his dream girl, but he was committed to being her best friend.

"Connor," Her tone deepened and Penelope closed her tired eyes to prepare herself to be unabashedly honest. "I really like you and there's a part of me that wants for us to have a chance to be together."

"Really?"

"It pops into my mind out of nowhere way too often." It made her feel very uncool. "But our lives are so different right now. You got to know this isn't the right time..."

Connor was reluctant to agree. He had been fighting with himself since he saw Penelope in Paris looking like a lazy Sunday Disney Princess. He wanted to be her Prince Charming so bad, but there was no one in the world who was going to stand in the way of the music career he was currently building on the road, not even Penelope Hemmings.

"I know." Finally, through a congested throat, Connor cracked.

"Tonight Jules asked me out and I want to say 'yes', and while I don't need your permission, I don't want to lose you as a friend. I'm not going to say yes if it hurts you at all." She was firm and sincere. For Connor or anyone she loved, she would set aside her wants and needs. Being selfish gave her enough concussions that she couldn't partake in her favourite activities anymore. She wasn't even supposed to drive, so Penelope had learned to be more considerate. “You’re too important to me.”

Connor felt the power she was giving him. He wanted to abuse it and tell her how badly it would ache at him just to keep her single, keep her closer to him, but he knew how wrong that would be. It was just a date. It wasn't marriage. Connor leaned into his pillow and shut his eyes, Penelope's face hurt in the parking lot immediately coming into view.

"I want you to be happy." He meant it even if his voice sounded deeply pained. "And I really hope you have a good time." Connor felt confident that he could take Penny on a very memorable date when given the chance. In his head, he told himself he would fly her to a private island on a private plane and they could spend a night with their toes in the sand and their hair in the saltwater. Connor didn't know much about Jules beyond that he had one leg and played drums, but he doubted that he was any real competition. If Penelope saw something in him, it had to exist. She was no one's fool.

"Thank you." It was exactly what Penny needed to hear in order to tell Jules 'yes'. Connor's sentiment massaged at her conscience and she let a tiny sigh of relief as proof.

"And the stuff I said about your Dad - " Connor started and Penny began shaking her head rapidly.

"Let's not dive back into that, okay? I know you're sorry and that's what counts for me." Penelope really didn't want to drudge up all the horrible things they had said to each other. She had grown up accepting that people said things about her parents and other people in her life for the sake of selling news. Hearing rumors from her best friend's mouth was different than bright letters flashed on the internet. It brought up questions and questions she didn't want to consider.

"Okay." Connor confirmed to her plea. "I'm crashing. I have an early flight tomorrow." Really, today. "Skype soon?"

"You got it." Penny leaned into the phone, the heat it was radiating against her cheek only making her sleepier. "Love you, miss you." She mumbled before hanging up and dropping her phone between her knees. Penelope sat up against the door with shut eyes for a few minutes before picking herself up to strip out of her clothes. She thought, for a second, about texting Jules, but decided to go to bed and just talk to him in the morning on her way to school.

----

He had been walking a line and he knew it. Luke entered his house on pointed toes from the back door. The night hadn't slipped away from him even though he planned to tell Cagney that it had in order to avoid a fight. It wasn't as if they didn't usually drink when they were at the studio, but he hadn't planned to be recording the last song for their album deep into the night. He also didn't realize that their usual vodka drinks and cold beers would turn into shots. Luke did think he deserved a couple points for leaving his car behind and taking a cab home. He even made sure to drink a bottle of water before even calling for a ride. Luke dropped his keys causing a few jingles in the key of F as they hit the floor. He cursed himself out under his breath and bent down to get them. The light was new to them as he had shut his eyes upon reaching down to pick them up. Once standing upright, he looked around confused and then hung his head in defeat when he spotted Cagney, face red, in an old 5SOS shirt and a pair of black cotton shorts on the couch. She had a glass of wine sitting on the coffee table in front of her.

“I can explain -” He put both his hands up to stop her from speaking even though she wasn't about to.

“It's fine. You texted me. I really appreciate it.” Sniffling, she nodded over and over. It was the truth. When Cagney knew that he was okay or that things weren't going as planned, she felt better. It was when her mind was left to wander that she became nervous and upset.

Luke heard what she said, but he was concentrating more on her eyes. She had been crying. In fact, underneath her swollen red eyes, he could detect glistening which meant she had only just stopped.

“What happened?” Luke rushed over, feeling a burn in his throat from all the vodka he had consumed, but he pushed through and dropped to her side. His arm instinctively wrapped around her and pulled her close. Whether something awful had happened or it was just a hard day with the kids, he wanted to make things feel better. Luke had a hunch that would never change when it came to Cagney. He would always want to be the hero in her story. With the hand that had been on his leg, he reached up and wiped at her tear marks with his thumb. “Keg...” He kissed the side of her head, fly away hairs and all, and waited for her to explain. Since having children, she rarely had a hard time expressing herself. “Penny tough today?” She could be a stubborn when she wanted to be, Luke could admit it.

“No.” Cagney shook her head and frowned her forehead at the thought. This had nothing to do with Penelope. “She was great. Everybody was good.”

“Then what's going on?” Luke had never been very good when it came to guessing. He always felt out of the loop when it came to his own life.

“Dacre just left.” She swallowed and shared.

“Oh? I didn't know you guys had plans.” He knew Dacre and liked him. It was always nice to have a fellow Aussie in America. Luke personally felt like his people were better to party with not that he admitted it to any of his American friends who provided him with many good memories. It didn't strike Luke as odd that Cagney would catch up with old friends when they were spending time in the US. He imagined he would want adult company when cooped up all day with three children who could barely speak in audible English.

“I took Penny to the splash pad. He came with us.” Since coming to the US so Luke could finish the latest album, Cagney had decided to accept the help of babysitter and nannies, but just so she could have independent time with her eldest on occasion. It helped since Liz wasn't around to be an extra pair of hands when she needed them.

“Oh?” Luke nodded. He didn't really like the idea, but it wasn't worth mentioning, not when they were just getting close to reconnecting.

“Yeah, it was fun. I'm not feeling super swimsuit ready, so having him to - “

“You look great.” Luke shook his head at her words, turning them down with his scrunched up nose and kissed her lips. He was a little drunk and caught her completely off guard.

“Luke,” She slipped away from the touch of his arm and turned to him, one knee facing her wine glass and the other pointed at his groin. “Penny was in her room, she napped after, and...”

“What happened?” Luke expected the worst. He was waiting for Cagney to tell him their daughter fell and knocked her baby teeth out. “Is she okay?”

“She's fine. She’s fast asleep. Listen - “

“What's going on?”

“Dacre kissed me.” Cagney finally shut her husband up. Luke's back shot straight up and he stared off over his head, red glowing under his blue eyes from inside the pupils. “And I kissed him back.” Flames grew in rich hues, orange and yellow. Cagney glanced at Luke's hands, fingers gripping into the teal leather of their couch while his other nails dug into the skin exposed on his knees from the new frays in her black jeans. “We didn't have sex.” She thought, foolishly, that might make him exhale with relief, but he stayed still, burning a hole into the family photo of him, Cagney, and a newborn Penny behind him. “But we kissed for a long time....” She didn't know else to admit without saying they made out like horny teenagers in the pantry. “I know this is not okay,” Tears started to rush down Cagney's face. She felt shame and anger and she worried that Luke felt the same about her. “I hate myself.” She reached for him, looking to grab his hand on his knee with both her palms, but he pulled it away and let her fall onto the cushion between them. “I hate myself and you should hate me too, but I have felt so alone and you have been out all the time and - “

“Fuck you.” He muttered, a bonfire wild in his stare as he just barely glanced at her.

“I deserve that. You should yell at me.” She was shaking her head so viciously that she didn't notice that Luke was crying now. The fire raged on his glare, but tears were stinging at the dry skin that his face wore from being so dehydrated from the LA climate and his drinking habit. “But there's something else...” She had to purge. He needed to know everything if there was any chance that they would be okay.

“Fuck! What?” Luke threw his head back on the couch, his hands racing up and down his thighs as he tried not to overreact. What more could she possibly have to say? Was she leaving him? Was she pregnant? Was Dacre upstairs naked on his bed waiting for a threesome to commence? His own failure scratching inside the walls of his stomach. This was his fault, he knew it. He hasn't put her first, he hadn't turned himself around, he hadn't been enough...

“I think Penny saw us.”

Luke roared so loudly that his 'fuck' couldn't be made out properly. He stood up in a nanosecond and, with a force unknown to himself, he tossed their glass coffee table and the contents on it including stone coasters, her wine glass, and her cell phone across the room. Before he could scream at her or she could stifle her out of control crying, the sound of wailing cries from down the hall were unleashed. It was one of the babies and Luke instantly resented her for knowing which one since he couldn't tell their noises apart yet.

“When you're here, you're hung over and Dacre made me feel - “

Stopping her as she cried to him, gripping the stomach of his white shirt, Luke put his hand up in front of his face and pulled away. He needed to be comforted. He needed the same thing one of his sons did and he started to shake off his leather jacket as he headed to their nursery, readying to comfort his son and try to calm down himself. Cagney followed close behind him, trying to explain how Penny came into the pantry, but Luke closed the door on her and gathered March in his hands in the dark, singing through his painful tears 'Ten Years Gone' by Led Zeppelin. He could hear Cagney crying in the hallway, but she might as well have been on the other side of the world. They were going to need a lot of saving and Luke worried what they would become once he walked out of the nursery.

***********************

In the kitchen, Cagney wiggled her nose at the screen of her laptop that she had set up on the kitchen island. Most of her life since she turned eighteen had been travelling especially being married to Luke and making their relationship work, but she still always felt anxious when it came to travelling. So she always had to look over her airline itinerary a hundred times before she set off.

“Hello.” She took her eyes away from the screen and smiled at Luke as he strolled into the kitchen, yawning with his arms over his head. “Good morning.” She grinned as he came around and kissed her. With the conversation they had had the night before, she wasn't sure how romantic he would be feeling. It had been a long time since they almost stumbled even into a conversation about the roughest patch they encountered. Cagney was thrilled when she felt her husband pull her closer and suck on her bottom lip. It wasn't a usual morning kiss. “You're in a good mood? Excited to have the house to just you and the boys?” She teased, staring up at her tall man as he held her to his chest.

“I'm proud of us.” Very sincerely, he told her in a serious tone. “We are really good.” It didn't always feel like they would make it and yet he felt closer to Cagney than he had when they were young, child free, and travelling the world together.

“We are. We've built a good life.” Cagney agreed with a smile that made her entire face beam. She had been so grateful for the mountains they climbed. They had carried each other sometimes, but together they made it to the top and she knew now they could do it again with their boys going through high school and their daughter studying in Paris. They could do anything as long as they were together.

“Let's go for breakfast. When was the last time we just went out the two of us?” Luke had tried to remember when Miles and March were whipping by him, racing one another to see who could get to the end of the driveway to their bikes the fastest. He had an idea, but he wasn’t sure if it had actually happened or not.

“Not to an industry thing? I don't know.” They always had another couple with them or one of their kids.

“I got to take you for a date before someone else does.” Luke joked, not even realizing what an accomplishment that was for him. Cagney just melted closer, hugging his chest to her as she kissed him again. She had made her mistakes and Luke had made his, but she wasn’t going to risk even the hardest parts of their lives together for a fleeting moment of joy. As painful as some of their memories were, Luke and Cagney had both learned the hard way how to appreciate one another.

#5sos au #5sos imagine #luke hemmings au #luke hemmings imahine #lukehemmings imagine #luke hemmings imagine

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bratzforchris · 10 months

Note

Can you do a social media blurb with calum? idc what it is lol 😝

Marriage

Summary: A social media blurb about your and Calum's marriage journey :)

FC: Christiana Nadin

A/N: Thank you so much for the request, anon!

❃

yourinstagram

Liked by calumhood, 5sos and 13,678 others

yourinstagram hey siri, play older by 5 seconds of summer <;3 @calumhood

📸: @ryanfleming

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calumhood pretty girl ❤️

yourinstagram i love you 💕

yourbestfriend omg congrats girl 🥺❤️

yourinstagram thank you bff! my maid of honor <3

calumsoreos WHAT THE FUCK NO WAY 😭💙

5sos5ever MR AND MRS HOOD

ashtonbangmelikeurdrums_ PARENTS 💓

calumhood

Liked by yourinstagram, ashtonirwin and 26,906 others

calumhood Definitely blacked out when I proposed #actualgoalsaf @yourinstagram ❤️

📸: @ryanfleming

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5sos c'mon calum do better

calumhood Shut up Michael

yourinstagram i didn't even notice<3

calumsbassguitar THERES NO WAY

lukes_lip_ring calum u did not do that to y/n omg

michaels.pikachu IM IN LOVE WITH Y/N 💗

cthupdates

Liked by loverofy/n99, calumspenguin and 2,364 others

cthupdates calum and y/n out in new york city celebrating their engagement tonight!

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calumsheaven they're so cute i'm jealous 😭

iloveluke1996 PARENTS

michaelsgreenhair imagine casually bumping into them bruh

yourinstagram

Liked by yourbestfriend, calumhood and 12,457 others

yourinstagram post wedding dress shopping have me like

View all 6,266 comments

y/n_updates you're so pretty plssss

yourinstagram thank u babe!

y/n_updates I GOT A REPLY FROM Y/N OMG

calumsbassguitar CAN CALUM HOOD FIGHT

5sos.5.ever I can't wait to see the dress 💗🥺

yourbestfriend

Liked by yourinstagram, lukehemmings and 1,678 others

yourbestfriend Hard at work for this weekend 😉

View all 147 comments

yourinstagram i look so tired 😭

y/n.fan.club IM SO EXCITED FOR ALL THE CONTENT AHHHH

tryhard98 CALUM AND Y/N SUPREMACY

calumhood

Liked by yourinstagram, 5sos and 29,995 others

calumhood Some shots from this weekend. I'm beyond grateful @yourinstagram ❤️

📸: @ryanfleming

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yourinstagram 🥰🥺❤️

5sos newlyweds ❤️

cthupdates OH MY GOD

lukelovespenguins THERES NO WAY 😭💗

yourinstagram

Liked by calumhood, 5sos and 15,444 others

yourinstagram feeling beyond loved rn @calumhood <3

View all 7,654 comments

y/n.forever OH MY GOD IT HAPPENED

calumoncloudnine THEY DID WHAT !!!!!!!

rungreyhoundash AHHHHHHHH 💙

ryanfleming

Liked by 5sos, yourinstagram and 5,409 others

ryanfleming Had the pleasure to capture this magical day. Congrats @calumhood and @yourinstagram ❤️

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y/nupdates RYAN PLEASE STOP 😭💙

5sosupdateaccount they're so parents <3

calsbuzzcut I'm so in love

⌗

➜ taglist: @lukesbolts

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sarrowskiess · 2 years

Photo

complete mess

#5 seconds of summer #5sos #5sos imagines #5sos imagine #5sosfam #5sosimagines #calumhood #michaelclifford #lukehemmings #ashtonirwin #imagines #gifset #gifs #sarrowskiess

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bloodhoundluke · 1 year

Text

secrets?

pairing: luke hemmings x f!reader (fc: claudia tihan)

a/n: hello dear people! 🎀 i haven't had the time to write basically anything, so here is another instagram blurb. i love doing these, it's so fun! in this blurb, y/n is a songwriter and she is assigned to have a songwriting trip with 5sos. the fans start to speculate if luke and y/n are dating. later, luke and y/n decide to go on a vacation together. ( Y/S/N stands for your ship name).

yourinstagram

Liked by lukehemmings, 5sos and 51,054 others

yourinstagram Song camp and late night hours

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lrhcurls97 Are they dating??? Luke what are you doing there???? Who is this girl????

cakelm1_ OMG GUYS! Michael commented 'So there the blondie still is...' and deleted it right after?? 😳

yourinstagram

Liked by lukehemmings, michaelclifford and 39,214 others

yourinstagram Mama loves u (and MISSES U)

View all 949 comments

michaelclifford Still can't get over Moose's reaction to him lol

yourinstagram Omg it was hilarious!

yourbestfriend I can tell he misses you too...he's been cryin' a lot since you left 🥺

yourinstagram Stooop 😭😭

lukehemmings Cute 🐕

lrhcurls97 LUCAS????

yourinstagram

Liked by lukehemmings, 5sos and 49,201 others

yourinstagram Thanks for this opportunity fellas. Calum, Michael, Ashton and Luke, I loved working with you guys. You taught me so much. The passion you have for this job is admirable. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Ps. And thanks for the occasional secret selfies you took with my phone.

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5sos Thank you Y/N for working with us, you are so talented. We were a bit of a pain in the ass sometimes, but you tolerated it well. Love you! ❤️

calumhood Thank you Y/N, you're a literal sunshine!

yourinstagram

Liked by lukehemmings, yourbestfriend and 40, 693 others

yourinstagram This vacay got me glowin'

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5saucymalum LUKE LIKED!!

yourbestfriend ILYYY BUBS 🥺 happiness looks gorgeous on you <3

5sos.updates

Liked by loveroflukey, lrhupdates and 1,894 others

5sos.updates Luke posted this on his Instagram with the text 'Love the view' and deleted it right after. It's speculated that the girl in the picture is the songwriter 5sos worked with a while ago.

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lukeswildflower ALERT ALERT!! LUKE HAS A FINSTA GUYS

cashtonscherry LUKE???!!

loveroflukey i really hope she makes him happy ❤️

lukehemmings

Liked by yourbestfriend, 5sos and 706, 586 others

lukehemmings I heard vacation photo dumps are cool. The word itself is horrible.

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michaelclifford You're ridiculous

lukehemmings C'mon man

5sosforlyf OMG THEY ARE ON A VACATION TOGETHER?? Y/N HAS TO BE THERE TOO???

yourinstagram

Liked by lukehemmings, yourbestfriend and 46, 901 others

yourinstagram Hi lovers 🤍 These past two weeks could be described in just three words: reading, sunbathing and eating. I've read so much that you just might call me the next Shakespeare (not really).

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sgfg_1049 IF THEY REALLY ARE TOGETHER, LUKE IS A LUCKY MAN...LIKE WOW...i'm definitely a bisexual.

nitswdefender imagine y/n and luke reading together?? 😭😭

yourbestfriend never knew Shakespeare looked that good 🥵

yourinstagram I love youuu 😭💗💗

ashtonirwin Big love! ☀️❤️

lukehemmings

Liked by yourinstagram, 5sos and 689,024 others

lukehemmings Beer and a pretty view.

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calumhood Enjoy the trip man!

teefsos THE TABLE IS SEATED FOR TWO????

5sos.updates

Liked by 5cashton, lrhupdates and 2,103 others

5sos.updates Luke and Y/N were spotted in Rome, Italy earlier today. Apparently they were in Greece last week and then traveled from Spain to Italy.

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5cashton OMG!!!

vapory_cal I LOVE THEMMMM ❤️

saucymikey FIRST OFFICIAL Y/S/N PIC OH LORD I AM CRYING

yourinstagram

Liked by lukehemmings, ashtonirwin and 48, 183 others

yourinstagram Hi again...🎀

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lukehemmings Hi 🥰❤️

y/s/n.updates THEY HAVE NO BUSINESS BEING THIS CUTE ASDFGHJKL

glitteryash my Y/S/N heart ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹

lukehemmings

Liked by yourbestfriend, 5sos and 789,104 others

lukehemmings Pick the cuter winner.

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yourbestfriend Hmmm lemme think… my bestie

yourinstagram Bby I love u 💘

5sos Definitely not Luke

yourinstagram LMAOOOOOO

lukehemmings HEYYY

a/n: ps. i just wanted to say that i came up with the usernames randomly, so if you identify yourself or something, it wasn’t intentional 🥺 hope u enjoyed this one!

#instagram blurb #social media blurb #luke hemmings imagine #luke hemmings fluff #luke hemmings x reader #luke hemmings x you #luke hemmings x y/n #5sos fic #5sos imagine #5sos x reader

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slutforsfender · 2 years

Text

BITTER LOVERS

5SOS/CALUM HOOD FANS HOW WOULD WE FEEL ABOUT A NEW CALUM FANFIC?

YOU KNOW JUST A COMPLICATED SECRET RELATIONSHIP BUILT ON HATRED? SEEM BASIC?

TRUST ME YOU WILL GET COMPLETELY INVESTED IN THIS.

FOLLOW @CLOUDYYYROSE ON WATTTPAD FOR A PROLOGUE TONIGHT AT MIDNIGHT (UK) AND UPDATES.

BITTER LOVERS//A CALUM HOOD FANFIC

#calumthomashood #calumhood #lukehemmings #michael clifford #ashton irwin #music #fanfic #wattpad #i love you #imagine #imagines #one shot #bitterlovers

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annoyingstupidmiracle · 2 years

Text

Do you really hate me? l.r.h x reader PART TWO

FINALLY, after a long wait, it’s finally here. And I’m soooo sorry. Consider this an apology ;)

Word Count: 6286

Here’s part 2! Read part 1 if you haven’t yet.

Sorry, it took so long to write, I’ve been busy with other fics, work, and college!

Plz check out my fics on Wattpad @ Nemo2403 !!!! I’m so very proud of them!

The painting below is what I was thinking of while writing the last one, but imagine it with different colors XD

You walked into the art building with your bag slung over your shoulder and a coffee in your hand, anticipation of seeing the blonde that had your head spinning the entire weekend. It surprised you that you were even able to sleep after what happened in your shared studio. Pat had ended up letting everyone off work for the weekend, so you hadn’t seen him since Friday night.

Your feet carried you through the main hall, hearing chatter throughout the different rooms and the distant sound of music coming from the other side of the building where you and Luke’s room resided. Swallowing harshly, you hesitated walking the extra ten feet to the room when suddenly a hand reached out and grabbed your wrist. Turning your head to the side, you’re met with Milly’s wide smile.

“How was your weekend?”

Thoughts of Friday night filled your head, and your gut wrenched. “It was nice. Peaceful,” you lied, sipping on your caffeinated beverage.

“Sorry about your studio, I know you like your own space,” she says with an apologetic smile. Your conversation was cut short by Pat’s office door opening and her lanky figure in the doorway. Both of your heads snap in her direction.

“Y/n! Just the person I wanted to see.”

Your face twisted in confusion and you adjusted the bag over your shoulder. “You wanted to see me?”

Pat ushers you into her office as Milly walks off to her own studio. Grabbing your shoulders, she spins you around to face the wall behind you. You brought the coffee up to your lips and took a swig of it as she did so, and there, hung up on the wall, was a familiar abstract piece that you and a certain someone had created on the floor of your shared studio. Suddenly your body didn’t know how to breathe and coughs sputtered from your mouth as the coffee seemed to go down the wrong pipe.

“Isn’t it amazing?” Pat asked in awe, wide eyes staring at the large canvas full of different blended colors. If one stared hard enough, they’d be able to make out the shape of fingertips harshly dragging down the sides of the wild painting. “I was going to check on your work once I got in the building and saw this beauty drying on the rack.”

As soon as you were able to regain your breath, you chewed the inside of your cheek. “Well, it’s certainly something.”

“Y/n, did you mean to create an abstract painting?”

Flashbacks from three days ago coated your brain as your eyes examined each and every mark on the canvas.

Crossing your arms, you grinned proudly. “How’s that for abstract art?”

Luke cackled at your statement. “Should we present it to Pat?” Your eyes met his and mischief was the only thing evident in them.

“I think that’s a great idea.”

“We thought it would be interesting to collab and create an abstract painting. It was supposed to be a surprise,” you lied straight through your teeth. It was the only thing you could come up with. Telling Pat the truth was clearly out of the question.

“We as in you and Luke?”

You hummed in response, taking another sip of your coffee.

“Well, keep up the good work. You two work well together.”

Her words almost made you choke again. Though it wasn’t her fault; Pat had absolutely no idea what you two did after she left Friday night.

The firm nod of approval she gave you was a signal to leave her office. Stepping back out into the hall, you sipped on the sweet drink once more before tossing it in the nearest trash can. Deciding to completely ignore the sound of your heart pounding in your ears, you coolly swung open the door to you and Luke’s studio.

The blonde was standing with his bare-back turned to the door, painting against a large canvas, making finishing touches. Your heart lurched in your throat as you watched his back muscles flex with every stroke.

“Fuck, I hate that you’re so good at this,” you managed to get out, jerking up as he hit the right spot. Your climax was close, you could feel it lurking upon you.

“Who’s good at this?”

“Good morning, Y/n,” a deep voice spoke throughout the empty studio room. Blinking out of your daydream, you realized you were still standing near the door and Luke was now facing you.

“Morning,” you muttered, walking over to your space and placing your bag on the floor.

“How was your weekend?” He asked, watching as you bent over to pull out paints from a nearby box. Your hair fell in front of your face and he so badly wanted to run his fingers through it as your pretty eyes looked up at him from his waistline. You hadn’t left his mind all weekend, and if he had it his way, he’d have invited you over to make more abstract paintings.

Your teeth clamped down on your bottom lip, not looking at the blonde. “It was alright. You?”

The conversation was weird. The two of you had never had a one-on-one talk that didn’t include lashing out at one another.

“Uneventful,” he answers, turning back to his painting. The atmosphere in the room was thick and tense.

You pushed your anxieties to the back of your brain and decided to squash this thing once and for all. “Did Pat talk to you this morning?”

“No, did she need to?”

“Oh, well she just wanted to let me know that we work well together.”

Luke stopped the movements of the paintbrush and turned his head to the side to look at you again. He was surprised by the sudden spark of confidence considering you were never one to cut the tension.

“Meaning...” He trailed off, placing the brush in a tray.

“She hung our painting on the wall in her office.”

A snicker left the male’s lips as he could only imagine you being confronted about the abstract painting. The anxiety that must’ve been flowing through your veins knowing the dirty things you two had done on that poor canvas. The sweat and bodily fluids that had mixed in with the paint that clueless Pat had hanging in her office to look at every day.

Not only did you have flashbacks of the happenings of Friday night, but Luke did as well. He went the whole weekend aching to touch you again, wanting your pretty self writhing beneath him. He wanted to take his time on you and feel every inch of your body.

The sound of knuckles rapping against the door broke the thoughts coursing in the room. The door opened to reveal Pat. Both of you shared a glance, practically biting your tongues to keep from laughing.

“I have a proposal,” she announces, her voice bouncing off the walls considering the spacious studio. Both you and Luke look at each other, eyebrows raised in anticipation.

You were the first to speak, “which is?”

“There’s an art convention next weekend, and I believe you two have the chance to enter and win the cash prize,” Pat explains, sipping on her coffee. “The only downside to the whole thing is that it’s abstract art only.” A lump formed in your throat, already knowing what she was going to ask.

Of course this is happening.

“What are you insinuating?” Luke questions, setting his brush aside to give Pat his undivided attention.

“As you said Y/n, our abstract department isn’t that good-”

“Ha!’ You blurt out, loving the fact that she finally admitted it. Luke smirks at your outburst, finding these little things adorable, as he always has.

Pat clears her throat, “so I wrote down your guys’ names for the convention in place of our abstract artists, hoping this will give them more time to improve. The painting needs to be done by next Friday.” And with that, she leaves the studio, shutting the door as she exits. You look to Luke with wide eyes, eyebrows crossed in confusion.

“Did she just give us a week to prepare for an art convention in a field we don’t specialize in?” You ask frantically.

Luke rolls his lips into his mouth, looking down at the tile floor that was still stained with fading colors of paint. “Yeah. She did.”

“Fuck, how’re we gonna do that?” You ask, running your hands stressfully through your hair, trying to think of the normal ways to make abstract art. On the other hand, Luke was thinking of the exact way you guys made the piece that’s hung in her office.

He doesn’t hesitate to answer, “the same way.” Your eyes widen further as you look at the blonde seeing him standing there with his arms crossed, a nonchalant look upon his face.

“What?”

“I didn’t stutter,” he shrugs. Your gut turns at this, not knowing what to say in response. Are you supposed to agree? You really wanted to, but this is a cash prize that’s on the line. But Pat did freak out over the work you two created without even trying, so maybe it wasn’t that big of a deal. Maybe the prize was small and you two would split it.

“When?” You find yourself asking out loud. It was too late to take back now.

Luke choked on the spit in his mouth, coughing slightly as he uncrosses his arms, feeling his confidence falter the slightest bit as he wasn’t expecting this response.

“I don’t want you to think you have to do this,” he explains, turning around as he begins to put his brushes in a box to be cleaned later. “We can figure out a different way to do the painting, or ask Pat to take us out of the convention.”

You shake your head, knowing now was the best time as any to fess up. “I like our way better,” you flirt shyly.

“Oh?” Luke feels his stomach twist at your words, wanting nothing more than to bend you over the supply desk, mixing colors as they spill over the edge of the table.

“I think Pat does too,” you joke, pulling a canvas from a small stack of them on the floor and placing it on your easel.

Luke snickers at your remark, taking his box of brushes over to the sink to rinse them off. “So it’s settled then?”

“Wha- Oh. Yeah, it’s settled,” you stutter, struggling to find your brushes. The only question left was when.

As the day was coming to an end in the art studio, you had finally finished the piece that took the entire day. You didn’t take a lunch break or give yourself any time to breathe, wanting to get the piece done so that you didn’t have to go into work until later in the day tomorrow.

Luke had stayed an hour longer than he needed to, giving the excuse that it’s dangerous to close up by yourself at night. Everyone, including Pat, went home hours ago which left the two of you alone in the art studio yet again.

“So,” Luke spoke as he sat on the counter of your shared studio room. He turned the radio off that was once before playing music, giving you some company while you worked profusely to get your latest piece done. “Did you have any plans tonight?”

You attempt not to freeze at his words, continuing to put the brushes you used into a box to clean tomorrow.

You shrugged, “not that I know of.”

“Well, I have a proposal,” he says in a voice that imitated Pat’s.

You laughed, turning your head slightly to face him, “which is?”

“We could go to the pub around the corner for a couple of drinks,” he suggests, wincing as he feels you’ll reject him. Just because you hooked up once didn’t mean you liked him. Though he didn’t know how you felt, you truly did like Luke underneath his dickish aura.

“Sure,” you reply, “just let me finish cleaning this up and we can go.”

Luke’s eyes widen as his head snaps in your direction once more. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Totally thought you were going to reject me for a minute,” he confesses, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. Collecting the multiple paint bottles, you placed them on the supply table with a grunt.

“Why would I do that?”

“Because you hate me...?” He trails off, raising an eyebrow at you.

Taking a wet rag, you wipe down your easel to clean it up a little bit. “I thought we established these things Friday night.”

“Do you really hate me?”

These words were on repeat for the two days that you two were away from each other. The second he spoke them sent waves of shivers down your spine that you hadn’t been able to get rid of since your mind was constantly racing.

Luke stayed quiet, trying to think of some sort of response to your statement, but couldn’t think of anything. You left him speechless.

Finally getting everything cleaned up and put away, you slung your bag over your shoulder and faced Luke. “You ready?”

His head snapped up at the sound of your voice and he smiled, “yeah, let’s go.”

Luke shut off the lights and closed the door behind you as the two of you exited the studio, making sure the doors were locked before you made your way down the sidewalk towards the pub. Occasionally your hands that swung at your sides would brush, sending tingles through both you and Luke’s arms.

The walk to the pub was comfortable and quiet; much different than a normal say in the studio which consisted of yelling and tension. He even took it upon himself to open the door for you when you arrived.

There were a few people sitting at the bar, sipping on their drink of choice, while there was a small crowd of people occupying the scattered seats around the pub. Luke lets his hand fall to the small of your back, ushering you up to the bar. Leaning against the surface confidently, Luke waved down the bartender.

“Can I get a round of Tequila?”

Your eyes widened at his choice of alcohol. “Tequila, huh?”

“My favorite,” he responds, handing cash over to the bartender in exchange for his round of shots.

You smile, “mine too.” It just so happened to be your favorite; you ordered tequila whenever you stepped foot into a bar. Luke led the two of you towards a booth in the far corner of the pub, placing the tray of shots on the table. He slid into his seat and split the shots in half giving the two of you three shots each. They’d surely give you a bit of a buzz.

Luke picked up one of the shots and gestured for you to do the same. He clinked it with yours and grinned. “To abstract paintings.”

Laughing, you brought the glass to your lips, tipping your head back at the same time as him, allowing the alcohol to burn your throat in the best way.

After that, there were way more shots thrown back than you could count. As if you could count. Your vision was already beginning to get the slightest bit blurry, and you could tell that Luke felt the same way. It was definitely time to cut yourselves off for the night.

“You don’t hate me anymore, right?” Luke asks, his words slurring the slightest bit. Before you could answer, he was already speaking again. “Because I really hated when we did that.”

You frowned, “I only hated you because you were a dick to me 90% of the time.”

A sigh left his lips as he leaned on his elbows that were propped up on the table, “is it too late to apologize for that?”

“No,” you shook your head, a drunken smile falling on your lips, “it’s probably the perfect time to.”

He reciprocates your smile, the liquid courage giving him enough confidence to grab your hand from across the table, “then I want to take the time to say that I’m sorry for being a dick for the past three years,” he presses a single kiss to your knuckles, “it was because you were the only competition I had after so long and I didn’t know what to do about it,” one more kiss is placed on the back of your hand sending tingles through your body, “you made me a better artist without even knowing, so I should really be saying thank you.” His lips pressed against your wrist, tugging you forward the slightest bit. Whether it was the tequila or the warm feeling spreading through your abdomen.. or both, you wanted him to thank you in a way that involved less talking.

Your lips parted, eyes in a haze as Luke continued to trail kisses up your forearm. His half-lidded eyes looked up to yours, a smirk falling to his lips as he did so.

“I live a block away,” you suddenly blurt out. “I- uh, I mean, we can get out of here if you want.”

Luke tears his lips away from your skin, seeming to be 100% okay with this, and taps his fingertips against your wrist. “Do you want to?”

Sinking your teeth into your bottom lip, your eyes trace over his most prominent features, imagining how they’d look with a thin layer of sweat coating them as he drove into you over and over again. “Mhm,” you nod.

Luke takes this as his queue to stand from his seat, guiding you to do so as well since it was hard for you both to walk straight. His arm was secured tightly around your waist, walking you out the door towards your apartment building while you verbally explained the directions on how to get there.

The cool night air sobered you up the slightest bit, giving you some sense of reality settling in. This was really happening; you were bringing Luke back to your apartment because you wanted to. Because you initiated it.

Before you knew it, the familiar double doors to your building were in front of you, and you pulled them open to let yourselves in. Your hand reached back, grabbing Luke’s to drag him into the elevator that would lead up to your third floor apartment. You pressed the button on the wall, and stepped back to wait, anxiously cracking your fingers. Luke noticed this and subtly placed his hand over your own, stopping your actions. Your eyes met, and you knew you were done for. Quickly leaning in, Luke grabbed the sides of your face while pressing his lips to yours, pushing you against the elevator wall; the cold metal sending a surge of excitement through your spine. You kissed him back, allowing your fingers to run through his hair, tugging at the ends. He sighed against your mouth, wishing the elevator would hurry the hell up so he could take this to your apartment.

Finally, when the metal doors opened and he forced himself to pull away from you, breathing heavily. Your chest heaved up and down, eyes raking over his figure as his did the same to yours. Reaching towards you, Luke took your hand in his, leading you out of the elevator before you took the reigns and ended up at your door. After unlocking it, you pushed the door open, but it was only a second later that you were pushing it closed with your back as Luke pressed you against it, his lips on yours once again.

Giving into his actions, you wrapped your arms around his neck, letting him hook his hands under your thighs, lifting you to wrap your legs around his waist which elicits a gasp from your lips. Pulling away from the kiss for a moment, Luke looked around for somewhere to put you down.

“Okay, we’ve got a few options here,” he says as his eyes scan the dimly lit apartment as his palms rested on your rear firmly, the only light falling in from the windows. You stare at him in anticipation, willing to do anything he asked. “Couch, kitchen table, bedroom, or right here against this door.” His eyes fell back on yours to see how much his words had effected you. Your chest was heaving, thinking of all the nasty things you wanted him to do to you, the alcohol in your system only making you that much more excited.

As much as you wanted him to just get straight to it in the spot you’re currently in, the comfort of your bed sounded the best. There’s a high possibility that this wouldn’t be the last time.

“My room is down the hall, last door on the left,” you say, breathless. Without another word, Luke moves the two of you away from the door, securing an arm tightly around your waist as he treks across your apartment to your bedroom door. This elicited a laugh from your lips which beautifully echoed throughout the quiet apartment. Once he pushed your door open, your back was met with the mattress of your bed seconds later. Towering over your desperate figure, Luke’s eyes raked down your body. Even with clothes that had small specks of paint on them, he thought you looked perfect.

“I’m so glad you didn’t reject me,” he mumbles un-coolly causing you to roll your eyes. Wrapping a leg around the back of his, you forced him on top of you, his hands falling on either side of your head to support himself.

“Shut up and kiss me,” you responded, wanting him to completely ravish you. With that, Luke feverishly crashed his lips to yours, letting one of his hands wander down your side, finding the waistband of your pants. He wasted no time in curling his fingers inside the fabric and tugging them down your legs, wanting to see what he’s been missing for the past two days. Pulling away from you, he watches your hands pull his shirt up, helping you discard of it across the room to which he does that same to you. His rough hands slide down your sides, leaving goosebumps in their wake.

“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you,” he says lowly, dipping his head down to connect his lips in an open-mouthed kiss on your sternum. You shudder at his delicate, yet hungry touch, sinking your teeth into your bottom lip. “How you taste,” he lists off, letting his tongue glide across your skin before kissing it once again, his blue eyes tauntingly making eye contact with yours, “how you look when I make you cum,” another kiss that lands above your waistline as he drops to his knees, “the way you sound.” His hands find your hips, massaging his palms over them repeatedly.

“Luke,” you moan, letting your head fall back in bliss as his fingers slowly pull your underwear down your legs.

He smirks to himself as he feels like he has the upper hand, ducking his head between your thighs, spreading them open with his large hands that splay against your skin. You prop yourself up on your elbows just in time to see his tongue run up your folds and your body jerks the slightest bit. Before he could go any further, he pulls away from your center and presses a hand against your chest, pushing you back against the mattress.

“Lay back and relax, baby,” he instructs, “consider this my full apology.” His words make you that much more angsty to see what he has in store for you. The nickname was nothing short of surprising as you hadn’t expected that, but it made it that much better.

His head dips once more, immediately taking your clit between his lips and sucking harshly which causes a moan to leave your mouth and your back to arch. The skill of his tongue was nothing compared to last time as now he wasn’t in any rush. Luke worked the bundle of nerves effortlessly with his muscle before letting one of his hands come between your thighs, carefully inserting his middle finger inside of you.

Your hand reaches down and grips his blonde locks, tugging slightly, “fuck, that feels good.”

“Oh yeah?” He asks, thrusting his finger consistently, feeling the spongey texture of your sweet spot. “Who’s making that happen, hm?” His tongue falls to your clit again, using his lips to stimulate the outside of it as he inserts another finger.

Your stomach clenches at this and the grip you have on his hair tightens, “oh, Luke,” you moan out pornographically which causes the man before you to hum in satisfaction.

“That’s right,” he states confidently against your core before continuing his earlier actions, pulling you to the edge.

You try to close your legs as you were nearly at your climax because you didn’t think you’d be able to work yourself back up if he finished you off now, but Luke has other plans as he pulls his fingers out of you in order to spread your legs completely, allowing for your legs to fall over his shoulders as he gets lost between your thighs. Shallow breathes escaped your lips as your head lulled back against the bed, tangling your fingers in his hair, knowing that he wanted you to finish on his tongue. When your legs begin to shake is when he speeds up his pace which sent you to your climax immediately, a loud cry of his name leaving your lips once again.

As soon as he pulls away, one look at his face gets you worked up all over again and you tug him on top of you by grabbing one of his hands, instantly pressing your lips to his as a thank you. Luke works his pants and boxers down his legs as he kisses you, kicking them off in the process.

He pulls away to begin trailing his lips down your jaw to your neck, wanting to mark you up to make it hard to cover up in the morning as he grabs a hold of his shaft to guide it to your entrance. As he begins sliding passed your walls, the reaction he wanted from you occurs as your breath hitches.

“Oh,” you gasp as he sinks the rest of the way in you, “my god.”

“So fucking tight,” he groans as he fills you up, “fuck.” Hooking one of his arms under your right leg, he hoists it up to get a deeper angle and begins his consistent pace that allows a knot to form in your lower region yet again.

As Luke stares you down from above, he curses himself. If he would’ve known this is what he’d been missing out on the entire time, he would’ve never started the hating game with you.

“Fuck~ right there,” you groan, giving Luke the greenlight to start driving into you, repeatedly hitting that same spot.

“I am so sorry for being a dick,” he says in the middle of it and surprisingly enough, it works you up even more. Grabbing your other leg, he positions them both over his shoulders before bending down to press his lips to yours, slowing his pace but making his thrusts rougher and deeper which has a lump caught in your throat as he does so.

A forced gasp leaves your lips yet again as he hits your g-spot and you rake your nails harshly down his back in return. “I forgive you,” you manage to get out through your moans of pleasure. “Fuck, you’re good at apologizing.”

Luke chuckles to himself, driving into you once more, the hand that’s stabilizing him on the bed fisting at the sheets. He was beginning to grow tired, the alcohol and being out of breath was not a good mix. You noticed this, realizing how heavy his breathing had gotten, and placed a hand on his chest, pushing him back slightly.

“What’re you-”

“Sit on the bed,” you instruct, pulling your legs from his grasp. Luke doesn’t hesitate to do what you say, making himself comfortable against the headboard, his legs outstretched in front of him. Crawling over to the irresistible blonde, you straddle his waist, lining yourself up with his member before easily sliding down onto him.

Luke’s eyebrows furrow as his mouth falls open, a pleasured sound leaving his lips. His hands find your hips, guiding you up before pushing you back down again. One of your hands is positioned on his broad shoulder while the other is gripping the headboard behind his head.

“I’m not gonna last like this,” Luke admits, allowing his hands to find the curve of your ass while meeting your hips halfway as you rode him, “it feels way too good.”

“Yeah, same here,” you manage to get out through huffs of breath, feeling the knot in your stomach get tighter. The bed rocked with your movements causing the bed posts to rhythmically smack against the wall, but it was music to your ears. It was sure to replay in your head after tonight. “I’m close.”

Luke allows one of his hands to reach in between the two of you, his thumb finding your clit to stimulate you further to your orgasm. “Cum with me,” he says, looking up at you, making eye contact. Your eyebrows cross as you nod, digging your nails into his shoulder as your climax builds.

Pressing your forehead against his, you feel him twitch inside of you as he draws closer as well. Luke seals his lips against yours just in time for both of your orgasms to hit. A string of muffled moans comes from you as this orgasm is much stronger than the first.

Luke helps you ride out your high, gently rocking your hips against his until your stomach uncoils from the clenched state it was in, and you let out a deep breath against his lips. Slowly pulling away, your eyes meet and a comfortable silence envelopes the space surrounding you.

“That was...” You trail off, your eyes flicking to his chest that was still heaving.

“Fucking amazing,” he finishes for you, squeezing your hips with his hands. Though it was amazing, you were worried what the next move was.

Instead of dwelling on it, you smile, “I agree.”

Slowly crawling off of him, you scoot to the edge of the bed and pull on the oversized t-shirt you were wearing that was discarded on the floor in order to feel less exposed. Luke watches you intently, his eyes scanning your shaky legs as you stand to find the articles of clothing around the room. Your hands grab at his clothes before tossing them on his lap.

“So,” he mutters while moving to get off the bed to put his clothes back on.

Your heart stammered in your chest as you began to pick out clothes from your dresser to get in the shower. “Yeah?”

“Are you gonna kick me out now that you’re done with me?”

Freezing in your spot, your eyebrows furrow, “what?”

“You know,” he sighs, “the part where I leave in the walk of shame?” He really didn’t want to leave. He just didn’t want to come out and say that.

Turning your head to the side, you get a glimpse of him sliding his shirt over his head, “you don’t have to leave.”

His eyebrows raise at this, surprised that you’d even consider it. “So, what’re you saying?”

“You can stay the night, Luke. I really don’t mind.” It was true, you didn’t, but you also didn’t want to seem vulnerable and get taken advantage of just to get your feelings hurt in the end.

He sighs again, “but do you want me to.”

There it is. The part where you could be seen as vulnerable. Did you really want to put your anxieties aside and see where this goes?

Before you could dwell on the thoughts any further, your heart was speaking for you, “yeah. I want you to stay.” And with that, you tucked the new change of clothes under your arm and turned your body towards him. “I’m getting in the shower.”

He sent you a close-mouthed smile, “I’ll be waiting.” But that wasn’t what you wanted.

“What, you’re not gonna join me?”

Luke’s face dropped at your question, clearly effected by it. “Actually?”

You rolled your eyes, “yes, actually.”

Without another word, Luke followed as you led him out of your room across the hall towards the bathroom. You tossed your clothes on the counter and turned on the water to the shower. Once you turned around, you peeled off your shirt again leaving you completely bare. Luke’s eyes scanned your figure as if it was the first time he’s seeing it, and you crossed your arms over your chest in response.

“Growing shy on me now?” He teases, discarding his shirt for the second time.

“You’re staring at me as if you haven’t seen it before.”

Luke smirks to himself, “or I’m staring because I like what I see.”

You raised an eyebrow at him, “do you? Because I could’ve sworn a week ago you told me I was a piece of-” Before you could finish your vulgar sentence, his hands were on either side of your face as his lips pressed hastily against your own.

Pulling away, he leaned his forehead against yours and let his blue eyes bore into yours, “let’s forget about all that, yeah?”

You smiled, feeling your heart stammer the slightest bit. “Consider it forgotten.”

The sound of fabric hitting the floor broke your small trance and you glanced between the two of you to see Luke’s pants and boxers pooled around his ankles causing you to laugh. His hands grabbed your waist and spun you around to face the shower before ushering you to climb in with him right behind you.

What you kind of thought would be a somewhat normal shower turned into a steamier mess than you were expecting. You were surprised that you’d allowed yourself to get worked up again over the visual of Luke’s back muscles flexing with fresh wounds coating his skin due to your earlier actions of digging your nails in his back. It made you want to do it all over again, and that’s what caused your hands to slowly run over the marks. A visible shiver went up Luke’s back at the slight sting, but it felt good. The blood rushed straight to his dick at the thought of filling you up again, and he made a split decision in his head.

His head turned to the side just enough to see your face, noticing the same look you had when the two of you were in the bar. You wanted him to fill you up again.

“Y/n,” he says lowly, sending shivers down your spin.

“Hm?” You hum innocently, running your nails cautiously down his shoulders.

He angles himself towards you further and bites his bottom lip in thought. “Do you want to-”

“Yes,” you’re quick to respond which has Luke drawing his head back to fully look at you.

“I didn’t even finish asking my ques-”

“I know, but the answer’s yes.”

He chuckles, “so, you’re saying yes to letting me fuck the absolute shit out of you against the shower wall right now?”

You nod in response, and Luke didn’t give it a second thought as he swiftly turned around, gripping the back of your thighs with his hands and lifting you up against the slippery wall. His lips met yours under the warm water that instantly flattens your hair, soaking you. He wastes no time to slide past your entrance, knowing neither of you had much energy to let it last as long as your first round did.

“Luke,” you gasped against his lips, yours parting as he began moving in and out of you rhythmically.

His hands have a grip on your hips that are sure to leave behind bruises, but neither of you cared as he continued to drive into you like he did earlier.

“Fuck~ Keep saying my name,” he growled against your jaw before leaving kisses against it. You didn’t hesitate to let another cry of his name leave you, wrapping an arm around his shoulders to hoist yourself further up his waist, wrapping your legs around his waist so he didn’t have to hold you up as much. Luke used this new position to his advantage. He wrapped one arm around your waist to guide you down his length while his other arm was splayed against your back, fingers curled in your hair against your scalp, angling your head back so he could have better access to your neck that was already marked up. “You like that, huh?”

“Y-Yeah,” you struggled to get out, rolling your hips with every thrust to get closer to your third orgasm of the night. You sure were lucky.

“Gonna cum for me again?”

His words sent another wave of pleasure through you as you nodded. “Ye- Oh, fuck,” you cursed, arching your back into him as he hit your g-spot.

“Come on, baby, I know you’re already there,” he says gently, pressing a kiss to your neck. There goes that nickname again- the one that made you weak in the knees.

By the change in his thrusts, you could tell he was already near his high as well. It didn’t take much considering how sensitive you were, and your legs were trembling on the outsides of his waist in no time, leaving you panting against him as he held you.

After what seemed like forever, the two of you were able to actually shower before heading back to your room to go to bed. After all, you still had to go to work tomorrow. And maybe it would be different now considering the events of the night.

Luke didn’t seem to have any issue with slinging his arm around your waist, pulling you against him. He breathed in deeply, appreciating the smell of your shampoo.

“Goodnight, Y/n,” he murmurs against the pillow, feeling exhaustion take over.

You smiled to yourself, subconsciously drifting closer to him, “goodnight, Luke.”

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