Chapter Text
When Luke opens his eyes, and the murky, indiscernible shadows of his dreams slowly fade to nothing with each passing second that he’s awake, only to be replaced with the perpetual anxiety of knowing that he’s going to lose his house pretty soon, the easiest thing to do is to close his eyes again.
It’s too late, now. Consciousness has got him by the hair and isn’t going to let him go, not until at least the early hours of tomorrow when he manages to worry himself to sleep again so he can restart this hell of a daily routine for the billionth time, that morning. He takes a breath, then opens his eyes for the second time, staring at his ceiling, which may not be his at all for much longer, and sits up in his bed, running his fingers through his bed-hair. He’s so screwed.
He pulls his phone off the charger, silencing the alarm that woke him in the first place. It’s time to go to work. He hates this part of being an adult, amongst many others. The life he’s built is very well falling apart before his very eyes and he can barely manage to salvage 5 consecutive hours of sleep each night, and he’s been existing solely off salted peanuts for over a day now but nevertheless, from nine to five he’s expected to be Mr. Hemmings, the accountant who has his shit in order and will have that file on your desk in 10 minutes.
It takes him under fifteen minutes to get showered, get dressed, and get his hair looking somewhat decent. He makes a travel mug of coffee for the short drive to work, after opening his fridge as if, by some miracle, actual food would have appeared.
It hasn’t.
He beats traffic by leaving just before rush hour can really begin, because he’s just forward-thinking and responsible like that, and he likes to take his punctuality at the workplace into his own hands rather than blaming it on hold-ups on the way there. Luke likes to think he’s applied this spirit of hard work and dedication his whole life, probably, which begs the question of why the fuck he was demoted last month. To a lower position, the position he had spent years trying to get out of, at that, with a lower salary, less benefits and a fucking shared office.
The company he works for, Plaza & Co, aren’t obliged to tell him why he was demoted, necessarily, as they had wasted no time in informing him. The contract he had (stupidly, without reading it properly) signed at the beginning of his employment had it typed out in black and white, so he was at a complete loss as to what the hell he had done wrong, if anything. Ashton swears on his dead rabbit’s grave that Luke hasn’t done a thing wrong and it’s all a conspiracy, but if Luke allows himself to consider that evil possibility, on top of his substantially lower pay which, in turn, is the reason he’s going to lose his house – he thinks he may also lose his mind. So he doesn’t pay Ashton any mind when he suggests things like that because he likes his sanity, or what’s left of it, and he’d like to keep it because it may very well be the last thing he actually has soon.
Luke takes the elevator up to the sixth floor, and walks to his office, sipping out of his coffee mug as he goes. Ashton looks up as he walks into their office.
‘Sup bro?”
“How are you always here before me?” Luke is incredulous, setting his drink on his desk before sitting down.
Ashton leans back in his seat, stretching his arms out, then interlocking his fingers behind his head. “I’m better than you in every way.” He replies simply. Luke rolls his eyes, turning his desktop on.
“Right, right, ‘s’why we’re both stuck in the same position in this shitty company.”
“I may be stuck here but at least I’m punctually stuck here.
“Fuck you.” Luke frowns. “I am punctual. It’s 8:59 you’re just an early kiss-ass.”
“At least I’m not addicted to caffeine.”
“At least I don’t wear my hair in a bun.”
“At least I’m not about to be homeless. Oh, shit, that was kind of below the belt, wasn’t it?” Ashton winces at his own words. “Sorry man. Please don’t cry, I didn’t mean it, you know that my couch is always open and I’ve actively been trying to get you to just move in with me already for the last ten years.”
“We’ve only known each other for five, dickwad.” Luke snipes, but Ashton’s words barely leave a mark. It’s a fact he’s come to terms with, several times, crying into his pillow, or sometimes just crying in the bathroom at work, if his tears are feeling spontaneous – he’s going to be homeless. He can’t afford rent and his landlord has already sent him a notice for eviction and he’s going to be homeless.
Ashton goes silent, all teasing aside as Luke looks away from him, and focuses on his desktop, abruptly very intent on getting some work done. Ashton’s face twists with sympathy, and Luke stares daggers at his computer screen.
“I’m offering again,” Ashton says, after a minute. “Move in with me? Please? This isn’t a pity ask because I’ve been asking you to even before – you know. I’d be a great housemate, and you know and love me so there’d be no awkwardness or anything.”
“I’m not gonna leave my house and move in with you, Ash. I’ve lived there for–”
“God, I know.” Ashton sighs heavily. “You lived there for your whole working life, it’s more than just an apartment, you and the building are forever joined in holy matrimony, blah, blah, blah. At least let me help you find a house mate.”
Luke looks up, and catches the unfiltered excitement in Ashton’s eyes that Luke seems to be listening to what he’s saying for once in his life. Ashton had brought it up once before, long before things had gotten this bad, and Luke had dismissed it. But desperate times…
“I mean, you’re living in a spacious two bedroom apartment in downtown Sydney – people would kill to share with you. Maybe not kill. But they’d probably pay a lot, and it’ll help you with rent, and then you can go back to living it up. Though I’ll never understand why your apartment has two bedrooms.”
“I use one of them as my Playroom, I keep my collection of whips in there.” He replies. The truth is, Luke used to actually have money, believe it or not. God, those were the days. And the purchase of a two bedroomed apartment as opposed to a one-bedroomed one was something of an impulse buy. Having squandered most of his savings on continuing to pay rent all these months instead of giving up and moving into a one-bedroomed apartment instead … He was going to have to follow Ashton’s advice one way or another.
“How would I find a housemate though?” Luke asks.
“Craigslist.” Ashton grins, fighting not to laugh at the look of unabashed horror on Luke’s face.
“Let me rephrase: How would I find a housemate that’s not a potential serial killer, though?”
“You’re not going to do any better than Craigslist. What do you suggest, we print out an ad? In the newspaper? This isn’t the 1970s, Lucas.”
Luke takes a few moments to consider what Ashton’s saying. On one hand, he’s right. No one reads the newspaper anymore, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to share a house with someone who did. On another hand, literally anyone could reply to a Craigslist ad. But then again, didn’t the same go for an ad placed anywhere else? Ashton spots the exact moment that Luke gives in, and nods triumphantly, turning to his computer and typing.
“Glad to see you’ve come around. Now lets see what we have here. How do you feel about living with a ‘Matthew’?”
“Wait, what?” Luke stands up and walks over to stand at Ashton’s desk so he can see his monitor screen. “Did you have an ad up already?”
“Well one of us has to look out for your wellbeing. You’re about to be out of house and home in a little over a week and you have nothing planned, no backup at all. I believe a thank you is in order.”
Luke ignores him. “Matthew is 50. Not happening.”
“Okay, okay.” Ashton continues scrolling. “How about her?” He suggests, cursor hovering over an email from ‘Molly’, who starts her first paragraph off by letting him know that she’s ‘different from any other applicant he’s had’. This peeves Luke for some reason.
“No.”
Ashton looks at him. “You’re going to have to be less picky. I don’t have an unlimited supply of people that want to live with you.” Luke elbows Ashton.
“You’ve changed your tune. Five minutes ago there were billions of people just waiting to move into my elite apartment in downtown Sydney.”
“Well now we’re back in the real world, and your only other choices are William, Anna, Katrina and Gordon.”
Luke raises an eyebrow. “What kind of name is Gordon?”
Ashton clicks into his email to read it, his eyebrows raising too. “He’s a man of few words,” Ashton mutters, but Luke can see that for himself. All his email says is “interested in apt. Let me know when/if I can move in thanks, I’m 23 btw.”
“I think I might want to pick him.” Luke says, reading over the email again. Ashton looks up at him, shocked.
“Really? You want to disregard the people who actually put an effort into their email for this guy? You sure?”
“Well, yeah. We’re the same age and I know from this that he won’t talk too much and annoy me like some people I know.” Luke pointedly holds Ashton’s gaze. Ashton gives him an exasperated look.
“So that’s it? That’s your final verdict?”
“Yeah.” Luke’s gut twists with the fear that this bout of spontaneity, combined with choosing not to listen to Ashton, one of the smartest people he knows, may come back to bite him in the ass. “Could you email him back and ask him to meet me so we can talk?”
Ashton looks at Luke warily. “I can’t tell if this is the final phase in your mental breakdown, or if you’re actually serious.”
“No, I’m serious. Things have been shitty for too long – this has to be the start of a new, positive streak, right?”
“Hopefully, but are you really going to take that chance over your house?”
“Could you just email him an address to meet me at?” Luke’s heart is already starting to feel a little lighter than it did this morning. Things were going to get better. They had to. He was going to get Gordon moved in as soon as he could, and then pay his landlord for the past 3 months upfront – he’d borrow some cash from his mum if he needed to, he didn’t care, because finally, finally something was going his way.
__
Luke’s first time meeting Gordon is at a coffee shop, as per their previously arranged agreement. He’s sat at a table and seems to know who Luke is as soon as he walks in, because he waves him over immediately. Luke tries not to be shocked about the fact that Gordon is kind of attractive – just ‘cause he found him on Craigslist didn’t mean he couldn’t be good-looking. He’s not sure what exactly he was expecting but it wasn’t this. Luke is hyper aware of Gordon’s eyes on him, scrutinising every inch of him. Luke belatedly realises that Gordon has as much to lose here as he does – choosing to live with a total stranger from the internet was something they both had in common here. He absently wonders if Gordon had the same thought, about him being attractive, too, but kills that line of thought before it can go any further. He doesn’t need to add any more stress to his life.
“Hi.” The man sitting at the table hasn’t taken his eyes off of Luke since he walked in, his bottom lip half sucked into his mouth as he watches him. He has a beard that’s not really grown out that much, like he’s not sure if he wants a fully grown beard or just wants to keep it in the stubble stage. There’s a black snapback jammed backwards over his hair, and his black shirt is pushed up to his elbows so Luke can see the tattoos and bracelets that decorate his forearms. “I’m Luke.” He reaches out to shake his hand, and Gordon shakes it firmly.
“Hi.” He nods. “So can I pay rent now, or are there any more questions?” He asks, straight to the point. Luke doesn’t miss the slight emphasis Gordon puts on the word ‘questions’. Ashton had emailed him over an abundance of them, most of them irrelevant, despite Luke telling him not to bother with a few of the more ridiculous ones such as what music he listened to and whether he puts the milk or the cereal in the bowl first. Luke had ended up secretly pleased, because Gordon had answered them all, and Luke now knew they both played guitar and liked the same bands and well, it didn’t hurt to have that info.
“I don’t think there are.” Luke shakes his head. “How soon are you looking to move in?”
“Dude, I’ll literally go back with you right now, if possible. Calum wants me out.”
“Calum?” Luke asks.
“My best friend.” Gordon explains. “He thinks I scare his hook-ups away. And I do. On purpose. Because getting hooking up with a different guy each night isn’t healthy. Or normal.” Gordon quirks a brow, suddenly wary. “You don’t do that, do you? ‘Cause I don’t know you or care about you enough to scare away your hook-ups. It’ll probably just piss me off a lot, and I’m the passive-aggressive type, so you probably won’t even notice.”
Luke huffs an incredulous laugh. “Uh, no, I don’t, uh. Don’t do that.” He replies, trying to be as casual as possible, but his mind is still two steps behind, focusing on the fact that Gordon’s friend brings home a different guy every night, and it doesn’t make any sense to hope that Gordon might be gay by association, but he does anyway – stupidly, he might add.
“Good.” Gordon breathes. “So. About me moving in today…”
“Oh, yeah, that can be arranged.”
“Nothing to arrange, man. I’ll get my shit, I’ll bring it over, and then I’ll give you your money. ‘S pretty straightforward.” Gordon sips from his Styrofoam coffee cup.
“Right, yeah, ‘course.” Luke says, and at least two of those last three words didn’t need to be said – if he doesn’t watch out, he’ll start rambling soon. He has no idea why this guy makes him nervous, but it really needs to stop now if they’re going to be sharing a home.
“Great.” Luke sees Gordon smile for the first time, and he finds himself staring at the crinkle of his green eyes and the white flash of his teeth.
“Yeah. Great.”
“So are you going to give me the keys or something?”
“Right, right,” Luke fumbles in his pocket until his fingers brush against the cold metal. He pulls out the fob for the gate, and the key for the apartment, joined together by a keychain with a puppy on it. “Here you go, Gordon.”
Gordon looks up in surprise at his name, before laughing, an abrupt huff of amusement. “My name’s Michael.” He says, which, to Luke, suits him a lot better.
Luke’s forehead furrows – has he just given the keys to his house to a total stranger? He eyes him warily. “What?”
“I use a fake name on Craigslist. Everybody does.”
“I didn’t.” Luke frowns. He decides to blame it on Ashton later.
Gor- Michael looks at Luke like he’s stupid. “Maybe you should think about it next time.”
“Well then how do I know you’re the same person I arranged to meet with?”
“How did you know up until know?” Michael raises his eyebrows. “You didn’t ask for any ID, or for me to show you the emails you sent me as proof. Hell, you didn’t even ask for a picture of myself before we met. Are you always this naïve?”
“Are you always this blunt?” Luke manages, not quite sure how to handle being put on blast like this.
“Yes.” Michael folds his arms and asks again, “Are you always this naïve?”
“Look, do you want to move in or not?” Luke asks.
“’Cause I’m starting to worry. If this is how you are about choosing a housemate, then God knows what else you’re capable of. Who else have you given your name and address out to on Craigslist?”
“Just you, and believe me, I’m starting to regret it already.” Luke doesn’t know where the sudden snark comes from but he regrets it as soon as the words leaves his lips, even though Michael was asking for it. Michael sees the wide-eyed regret on Luke’s face and stifles a laugh, leaning forward.
“I’ll see you at home.” He says, picking up the keys before standing up, nodding at Luke, then walking out of the coffee shop, back to his car. Luke’s not sure what just happened, or what it means, but he does know his life is a lot better now than it was this morning and, well, if Michael’s snippy attitude was the only con to this whole arrangement, he’d gladly take it.
__
It doesn’t take too long for Michael to start moving in. Luke’s there when he comes through the front door for the first time, backwards, holding a huge, heavy-looking, unmarked cardboard box. Luke sits behind the kitchen island and watches as he sets it down on the ground before standing up and panting from exertion. Another man follows him in, holding a similar-looking box, dropping it next to the other one.
“Fuck me. Moving is hard.” The other man breathes.
“This is your fault anyway.” Michael grumbles.
“Hey, it’s good for you. You couldn’t live on my couch forever, don’t act like you’re not secretly proud of yourself for graduating to your own bed.”
Luke awkwardly clears his throat, and they both turn around like they’re just noticing him, which they very well might be.
“Uh. Hi again,” He says, and Michael’s lips lift in the tiniest of smiles – or it could just be a smirk. The other man grins at him, though.
“Hi, I’m Calum. You must be Luke, the one who freely and carelessly gives out personal info on Craigslist.”
Luke folds his arms. “And you must be Calum, the one who has an extremely active sex life.” As soon as he says it, it hits him how fucking risky that was. God, maybe Luke is way too careless. He doesn’t know how Calum’ll react, hell, he doesn’t know him, period. There’s a brief silence, just enough for Luke to wish he wasn’t here at all, before Calum’s tongue clicks.
“Fiesty.” He says, before throwing an accusing glare at Michael, presumably for spilling about his private life to some guy they just met.
“No judgement here.” Luke assures him, which Michael sucks his cheeks in, in an obvious attempt not to laugh. “We all have needs.” He says, and he has no idea why he can’t just shut the hell up.
“That we do.” Calum agrees. “Michael here, for instance, is going to need a very long nap after he’s finished unloading all his shit from his car by himself.”
“Caaal,” Michael groans, all traces of humour washed away from his face. “C’mon, I’m sorry. You can’t just leave me.”
“I’ll see you later Luke. Have fun Mikey.” Calum nods at Luke before walking out of the apartment. Michael stares at the door for a second before turning to face Luke, and sighing when he sees the wary expression on Luke’s face.
“I’m really sorry–”
“Don’t worry about it, he’s just dramatic. He’ll get over it. But since this is your fault, you can help me with the rest.” Michael smiles at Luke, and it’s a sight to behold. Luke clears his throat.
“Uh, yeah. Yeah, sure.” He agrees, following Michael downstairs, back to his car.
It takes them the better part of an hour to get everything into Luke’s apartment. By the time they’re finished, they’re both sweaty and Michael’s shirt is off. As Luke pours him a glass of cold water, he flops down onto the sofa, eyes closed, arms stretched out above his head. Luke swallows, eyes travelling over every inch revealed skin, glistening with perspiration. Did he mention Michael’s shirt is off?
It had been forty-five minutes of watching Michael lift heavy items and grunting as he picked them up, and walking around half naked and a lot of sweat à la the hot Sydney sun. Luke wasn’t coping very well. It was hard in a lot of ways but Luke did his best to stop it becoming physically so, because he thinks he’d die from embarrassment in the most literal sense of the word, and Michael, as he was quickly learning, was a fan of playing with Luke’s embarrassment.
As Luke stares, Michael exhales loudly through his mouth, and then his eyes open. Luke turns away so fast to avoid being caught staring that he knocks the glass of water he had poured for him over. It seems to fall to the ground in slow motion, before shattering on the marble into little crystalline shards, kind of like his fucking self control.
When he looks up again, slowly, Michael’s already looking at him, amusement shining bright in his eyes like he’s wondering what comment he’ll make about how clumsy Luke is, first.
“Don’t.” Luke says, just as Michael opens his mouth to say something, which makes Michael smiles even bigger, eyes locked on Luke’s. Luke can’t help smiling too, like it’s contagious.
“Not that this isn’t a cute bonding moment and all,” Michael says after a moment, “but can I have my water now?”
“Sure, sure no problem. As soon as I attend to the sharp, potentially deadly, pieces of glass surrounding my feet.” Luke shoots back, turning to get a dustpan out from under the sink and trying to steady his heartbeat.
Michael rolls his eyes. “So you’re a dramatic one too.” He sighs. “Tragic.” He says, then gets up to get his water himself. His hip brushes past Luke’s as he reaches to get another cup out, and Luke audibly stops breathing.
He’s so screwed.
__
“Shit, I’ve never seen you pine this badly before Luke.” Ashton says the next day at work. “This would be a great plot for a Lifetime movie: I met my Lover on Craigslist.”
Luke has his head in his hands and doesn’t bother looking up. “I’m so attracted to him.” He whispers, more to himself than to anyone else. It feels good to admit it aloud. And then it feels so much worse because now that he’s said it, it’s real.”
“So when are you gonna make a move?”
Luke looks up, startled. “What? Never. Are you insane?”
Ashton sighs. “So you’re just gonna let yourself suffer, when he could maybe feel the same way. Am I going to have to lock you two in a closet till’ you give in and do something like we’re seventeen?”
“Would you?” Luke actually sounds a little hopeful, and Ashton laughs.
“Wow you’ve got it bad.”
Ashton’s not wrong. Just thinking about the fact that he has to go home to Michael after work makes Luke’s heart pound in his chest.