Chapter Text
"Heyyy," Calum begins once Michael picks up the phone.
"No."
"I didn't even say anything yet!"
"I'm not bailing you out of jail."
"I'm not in jail."
"I'm not helping you move shit." He shudders at the memory of the time he offered to help Calum move into a new apartment. Somehow he ended up with a sprained wrist and a dented car.
"I'm not moving."
"Did you—"
"Listen," Calum cuts him off. "I found you this really cool opportunity for your music. Y'know my buddy Ashton?"
Michael blinks. "Yeah," he says, skeptically.
"He has this friend, Luke Hemmings, who's looking for someone to collab with, and I kinda sorta mentioned you."
"You what."
"It's not like you're busy or anything."
Michael sighs. "Look, I appreciate it, Cal, but after everything with Awsten—"
"Can you please just meet the guy? I think you two would get along well."
"Fine."
"Perfect! I already told Ash you said yes."
"Calum—"
Michael
why did i agree to this.
Cal
cuz you love me
Taking a deep breath, Michael opens the door to the coffee shop. Looking around, there's only a handful people inside. It's mainly people working on their computers while sipping their lattes. There doesn't appear to be blonde man with obnoxiously broad shoulders (as Calum had described). For a brief moment, he wonders if Luke stood him up. Not that this was a date. No, this was strictly a business meeting. Just as he's about to pull out his phone to text Calum, he notices a man at one of the back tables lift his head.
"Michael!" the man runs a hand through his hair before waving him over, a brief smile gracing his lips.
Oh. This is Luke. Wow. His eyes flicker towards Luke's lips. Nope. He is not doing this again.
He's probably dickhead. He's too good looking to be nice too. Nope, he's not good looking.
Michael's broken out of his thoughts by a person entering the coffee shop behind him. "Excuse me. Please get out of the doorway."
He jumps. "Oh, I'm so sorry." He quickly moves to the left, nearly tripping over a chair. He notices Luke chuckling at the interaction as he makes he way over to the table. "What's so funny?" he questions, settling into the seat.
"Oh, nothing. It's just the look on that woman's face. She looked pissed before she even opened the door. Anyways." Luke readjusts how he's sitting. "I'm Luke. Hemmings."
"Michael Clifford. It's nice to meet you, Luke." He flashes the blonde a smile.
"It's, uh, nice to meet you too." Luke's eyes seem to be burning a hole into part of Michael's face, causing him to frown.
"Do I have something on my face?" He furrows his eyebrows, bring a hand up to wipe at his cheek.
"No! I mean, uh, no. You're fine." He claps his hands together lightly. "So! I figured we should, like, get to know each other a little bit before we start to write, y'know what I mean? Unless you just want to get straight to writing! That's fine too." His leg begins to bounce slightly under the table.
"I mean, yeah, that sounds good. We should try to find something in common to make this easier," Michael says slowly. He's confused by the sudden nervous energy.
"Perfect!" Luke then casts his eyes downwards as if trying to think of what to say next. "Uhm. Have you ever collabed before?"
Internally, Michael freezes. "Yeah, once."
"Oh, really?" Luke perks up at that. "I haven't actually worked with anyone else on my music besides my friend Ash. How was it?"
"It was…" Good. Bad. "The song itself turned out fine," he offers.
Luke raises an eyebrow at that.
"I'm still friends with the person who I made it with, but he's also now my ex."
Luke's eyes widen. "Oh. I'm… sorry?"
Michael shrugs. "Long distance didn't work. Besides, I think he has a situationship going on with his drummer." At the very least, that's what is sounds like based on the many, many texts he's received about Otto.
"Fair enough." Luke sighs, taking a sip of his coffee. It reminds Michael that he hasn't ordered anything yet. "I think Ashton's in one of those. I don't know for sure, though. He won't tell me, but I have my suspicions."
"What about you?" Michael doesn't know why he asks, and a part of him regrets it when he sees the way Luke freezes.
"Me?" He stares at Michael before quickly looking away.
Michael nods.
"No, I've not been in a situationship or a relationship, uh, recently." For some reason part of Michael relaxes at the words. Luke seems flustered, a light blush crawling up his neck, and he wonders how red he could—
Okay, what the fuck. No.
"I just remembered!" he blurts. "I told Calum I would help him move some furniture soon."
"Oh, okay." A flash of disappointment covers Luke's face, and Michael tries not to feel guilty about cutting their meeting short.
"If you want to exchange numbers, maybe sometime in the next few days we can meet up again and then start working on the collab." He pulls out his phone, opening his contacts. "Here," he says, handing the device to Luke.
After adding his number, Luke texts himself, pulling out his phone to create a contact for Michael as well.
Michael
.
Luke ;)
Hi
Michael feels his lips upturn at the message.
"Have fun moving furniture," Luke says, pocketing his phone.
"I will try."
He waves awkwardly at the blonde. When he stands to leave, he thankfully doesn't nearly trip this time.
As soon as he gets home, the first thing he does is message Calum.
Michael
dude.
Cal
How did it go???He's so fucking gorgeous. He's very endearing He's not a dickhead unfortunately I ended the meeting short because he was-
He deletes each message, causing nearly five minutes to pass before he eventually responds.
Michael
I'll do the collab
Cal
I knew it! I heard that you both have similar Types of music you play 👀
Michael audibly sighs as the text.
Michael
i hate you
Cal
No you don't
Michael
Im not ordering pizza next time you come over
Just as he's about to put his phone down, he sees another text.
Luke ;)
Sorry if I made today a bit awkward, haha
I'm free anytime this weekend if you want to meet again
Michael
Ur good, lol
and sure!
Shit, maybe that was too enthusiastic. He tosses his phone towards the other end of the couch.
One thing for certain is that he's definitely killing Calum the next time he sees him.