Chapter Text
Luke Hemmings always made Michael feel a little insecure about himself, maybe that's why he hated him at first, despite the effort, it didn't last long, Luke was a hard guy to hate, if his beautiful blue eyes and perfect face made Michael want to punch him, his personality however negated that.
Luke was sweet and kind and funny. He was just a nice guy and Michael knew he had no reason to hate him.
He grew a bit more mature over time, hating Luke was silly.
It turns out that after the haze of hate cleared and his perception cleared, Michael saw what lurked behind that feeling.
Luke was handsome, in a way that made Michael want to stare at him for a long time, and run a hand through his hair. He didn't even get mad anymore when the girls ignored the rest of the band and went straight to him.
It was never a thing that really bothered him, it was just a fact, Luke was really nice to look at and sometimes Michael liked to look. It was simple, it always has been.
Luke was one of those few people who could make any straight guy's heart consider making an exception.
Michael always thought it was something that would pass, that Luke's image would seem less supernatural in his mind, it turns out Luke has aged like fine wine. If Michael thought he was cute in the early days, now Luke was cute AND hot as fuck.
So Michael had a crush on Luke, it was easy to deal with, it wasn't a big deal. And if Luke's image sometimes appeared among the other images he imagined when he masturbated, that was just an exception.
It wasn't something he actively thought about, most days that little attraction was just a little itch in the corner of his mind.
Mostly.
On that particular day, Luke was on his mind a lot more than usual, Michael didn't know what was different about that day when he looked at Luke on stage, and every smile he gave hurt, and everything about him was Perfect.
He didn't worry about it, he never worried when it happened, he just dealt with, because who wouldn't feel that way about Luke Hemmings? That night Michael opened his mouth and talked more than he should and found that apparently it wasn't as common as Michael thought.
“If you could pick one celebrity to fuck, who would it be?” Calum asked in a slurred voice, they were both drunk after the show.
Michael has already lost count of how many stupid questions they've asked each other in that period, Ashton and Luke had already given up and gone to sleep. Now it was just Calum and Michael.
"Mine would be Megan Fox" Calum said quickly as if Michael was going to steal her from him.
Michael pondered for a few seconds, still unable to get Luke's blond hair out of his head, he was no longer able to think straight.
"Mine would be Luke hemmings" Michael said, if he hadn't been so drunk maybe he would have thought better of that answer.
Calum started to laugh out loud, but when he looked at Michael's face, his laughter slowly diminished. As if he realized it wasn't a joke.
"Are you serious?" Calum asked suddenly looking more sober.
“He's hot” again, Michael didn't think he would say this with less alcohol in his system “I'm not gay, but I'd make an exception for him. Are you going to say you wouldn't?"
"No!" Calum looked at Michael like he was crazy.
“okay” Michael pondered, maybe Luke wasn't everyone's type after all, that was shocking enough for Michael. “So who would you make an exception for?”
Calum is silent for a few seconds, Michael feels that his friend is analyzing him.
“No one, Michael,” Calum said slowly, and Michael frowns.
"Seriously?" Michael asked in disbelief “Don't you think about it? Never?"
Michael himself had a short list of male celebrities he would consider making an exception, but Luke was definitely at the top.
Not that he thought of actually doing something, but if he was going to do it… Well, he had his preferences.
“Never.” Calum shook his head, and Michael couldn't believe it.
“It's normal to think about these things” Michael said trying to defend himself from the look Calum is giving him, he doesn't like the way he makes him feel at all.
“Maybe” Calum said a little reluctantly and then paused for a long time, and Michael started to mentally thank God that this awkward conversation was over, but he wasn't having any luck that day. After a while Calum turned to him again "Have you ever stopped to think that maybe you're not..."
“I guess I better go to sleep.” Michael got up fast almost falling over, he didn't want to have to deal with anyone assuming anything about him wrongly that day, just because of a totally natural desire.
He took a while to sleep, with the constant thought that he had been getting it all wrong all along.
Calum acted like Michael were the strange one. He was not. Of course he wasn't.
He was pretty sure he wasn't.
Almost certain.
That disastrous conversation was just the kick-off to a succession of disasters later.