Work Text:
As far as roommates go, Luke is the best one Calum has ever had.
That title isn’t hard to earn when his only other roommate was a stickler for the rules and complained any time that Calum so much as stepped foot onto his “side of the room”. It wouldn’t have been a problem if the door wasn’t on his side of the room. What did the guy expect him to do, climb out the window?
In hindsight, that’s probably exactly what he wanted Calum to do.
Regardless, when choosing where to live for his Sophomore year, he knew he had to find a roommate that wasn’t a control freak and would let him live his life however he so chose.
Enter Luke.
Everyone, literally everyone told them how much of a bad idea it is to live with your significant other while in college. It seemed like everyone Calum knew had a horror story from either themselves or close friends who decided to move in with their partner while their relationship was still so fresh. Relationships going down in flames because sharing a twelve by twelve dorm room wasn’t enough space for young adults still learning how to be individuals. Everyone warned them against doing it. But as semi-petty humans, Luke and Calum said a big “fuck you” to everyone who told them not to room together and requested one another as roommates right before room selection happened.
It ended up being the best decision that they could ever make.
Turns out, living in a twelve by twelve dorm room in their Sophomore year would make them even closer than ever before, teaching them about boundaries and the importance of time away from each other given that they also live together. They fought, because what nineteen year old boys wouldn’t fight, but they always managed to work it out without more than a day of no contact. Michael’s couch and Ashton’s floor were very helpful during those rare arguments.
Calum still smirks occasionally when he thinks of how many people tried to tell them that they were going to ruin their relationship like this. Looking back now, in their final year of school, he would love to laugh in their faces and show them just how good his and Luke’s relationship is, bolstered by spending their foundational years living out of each other’s pockets.
They’ve long since upgraded their tiny dorm room to a larger, liveable apartment on the outskirts of campus that keeps them close to their friends and classes, but far enough away that they feel more independent, almost ready to take a nosedive off the stage at graduation straight into the real world. It’s coming up a lot faster than they anticipated.
Which is why Calum isn’t all that surprised by the scene when he comes home after a long day at his internship. Luke typically has started on dinner at this point, filling the apartment with noise and music as he stumbles through some three ingredient recipe that even he can’t fuck up. Still, that doesn’t mean that he manages to make good food every time. On a scale of five star meal to absolute garbage, most of Luke’s meals land closer to it’s edible, but at what cost?
Calum knows Luke is here, his car is parked outside in his normal spot under the oak tree, right where it’s shaded enough not to let the inside overheat in the warmer months. His shoes are sitting next to the door in an ever growing pile since neither of them can manage to bring them to the bedroom closet where they belong. His keys hang on the hook, waiting for Calum’s to join them.
“Luke?” Calum calls, popping his head around the corner into the kitchen. It’s uninhabited, silent and dim in the early evening setting sun. Calum squints as he walks directly past the living room with only a parting glance to ensure that Luke isn’t just sitting on the couch waiting for him. When he confirms Luke isn’t there, he moves onto the bedroom.
That too is empty, black duvet still left unmade as always. Calum makes a small noise of confusion in the back of his throat as he pulls his shirt up over his head to replace it with a hoodie before he does the same to his slacks, worn cotton joggers taking their place. Tugging on the strings, it’s easily apparent that these are Luke’s sweats, not his own, but Calum makes no move to change.
Instead, he circles back to the living room, socked feet sliding against the hardwood floor as he flips his phone over in his hand, contemplating if he should text Luke now or give him a little bit to materialize. It’s possible that he may have gone across the hall to visit a neighbor, but typically he’s more careful about leaving the door unlocked when he’s not around. It would be out of character, but at this point, who knows what he’s up to.
Rounding the couch to sit and wait while clicking through his phone, Calum kicks a hard, yet malleable object that lets out a tiny “oof” at the impact.
“Luke?” Calum questions, peering down at his boyfriend lounging across the soft grey carpet with his arms outstretched, palms to the ceiling. One small movement is all it would take for Luke to be making snow angels in the plush material. His eyes are shut peacefully, lips parted slightly to let little puffs of air out through his mouth. His chest rises and falls rhythmically.
“Hey,” Luke says, opening his eyes as a small smile graces his face. “Sup?”
“Whatcha doing on the floor?” Calum asks, taking a seat on the edge of the couch, closest to Luke’s face.
Luke’s eyes slip shut again, hiding the pale baby blue from the warm yellow light of their lamp. He looks calm, floating on the sea of their rug, waiting for a current to take him away. He shrugs, motion pushing his bleached curls away from their resting spot pillowed around his head.
“Just hanging out.”
Calum laughs slightly, shaking his head. “Hanging out on the floor?”
“Mhm,” Luke mutters, moving his arms to fold his hands over his chest. “Listening.”
“Listening to what?” Calum asks, resting his own arms on his knees to bend closer to Luke.
“The silence.”
They both pause, taking in the nothingness around them. There’s no wind, no car horns, no random noises to punctuate the nothingness. Just blissful silence, only broken by the barely there whispers of their breath as they continue living.
Calum, unwilling to break the trance of a quiet moment, leans back against the couch and closes his own eyes. Like this, it’s easy to pretend like nothing around them exists. Their apartment is nothing more than a black void without a single star, out in space light years away from Earth. The deepest crevices of the ocean, down below where anyone has ever explored before, hidden in the darkness. Some eternal in between where nothing exists and everything is quiet.
It doesn’t last longer than a few moments before it’s broken by a distant flushing toilet in an apartment around them, water rushing through the pipes above their space. Luke snorts and Calum opens his eyes.
“How was your day?” Luke asks, still laying flat on his back with his eyes shut.
Calum shrugs even though he knows that Luke won’t see it. “It was fine, just a day. Are you sure nothing happened in your day to make you want to spend time on the floor?”
Luke’s eyes flutter open again, finding Calum’s instantly. They seem to soften slightly when they hit Calum’s face, contentment soaking through the icy blue. Three years should be more than enough time to vacate the honeymoon phase and fall into complacency, but Calum will never get tired of the way Luke looks at him like he’s the most coveted treasure. Calum is pretty sure he looks at Luke the same way.
“No I’m okay, I just wanted to spend some time on the floor.”
“You’re strange,” Calum says quietly, the ghost of a smile falling onto his own face.
“But you love me,” Luke confirms, eyes trailing across Calum’s face as he looks up from his spot.
“I do,” Calum confirms with a single nod.
The smile that lights up Luke’s face could blind astronauts out in space. You would think that Calum withholds his love by the way that Luke shines each time he’s reminded, as if Calum doesn’t constantly shower him with affection and endless reminders that he’s it, he’s the one Calum was destined to love. Insecurity can be a hell of an obstacle to tackle and Calum will never stop fighting that demon in Luke’s mind, the one that tells him that someday Calum will leave him in the dust.
As if that wouldn’t crush every inch of Calum’s being.
“You wanna order food?” Calum asks, glancing at the clock next to the television sitting across the room. His stomach rumbles angrily, unhappy with the deviation from its normal pattern of working, returning home to Luke and a warm meal, and going to bed. Creatures of habit.
“Sure,” Luke shrugs, making no move to get up off the floor.
“Okay, do you wanna get up off the floor then?” Calum laughs slightly, following the trail of Luke’s pointed nose, up over the swell of his lips, down the never ending expanse of his neck, before falling across the flat plane of his chest that rises and falls slowly.
“How about you make me?” Luke challenges, mischief twinkling in his starry eyes.
Rather than replying, Calum slides off the couch next to Luke, landing ungracefully on the rug with a thump. He maneuvers his body around until he’s laying next to Luke, hands down by his sides but pressed against the warmth of Luke’s own hoodie. He nestles his head into the silky rug, making a pillow for his head in the fabric. Luke has the right idea here, this is comfortable, firmness of the floor supporting his back as it relaxes from a day of being upright.
Luke’s melodic giggle carries over the room. “How is this getting me off the floor?”
Calum shrugs. “Not sure, but you looked comfy so I wanted to join.” Staring up at the ceiling, Calum counts the constellations in the popcorn ceiling, each tiny dot blurring into the next as he tries to pick out familiar shapes, finding nothing but clusters of bumps above him. “Is that the Big Dipper?” Calum asks, pointing at a patch of dots that absolutely does not form any kind of shape.
Luke’s laugh intensifies a little as he tries to speak through it. “No, I think that’s Orion’s Belt actually. The Big Dipper is over there,” he says, taking Calum’s hand to direct it off to the left, right above the window.
“Ah,” Calum hums. “I got all messed up on which way is North and which is South. My bad.”
In one ungraceful movement, Luke turns over onto his stomach, bouncy curls coming into Calum’s view as he leans his head in close. Gently, he rests his chin on delicate wrists as he bites on the side of his lip to conceal his smile. Eyes search Calum’s face for something, like they’re taking in every detail of his appearance.
Calum can’t deny that he’s doing the same, counting the freckles scattered across Luke’s cheeks, finding the small pinprick hole from his long lost lip ring. The slightly greasy curls that hang down into his vision, limp from a day of combing his hands through them. The indents of his palms pressed against the skin under his cheekbones, stretching the soft skin. The dark pink of his slightly chapped lips. All the pieces of Luke that only Calum is privy to seeing.
“Look who finally got off the ground,” Calum teases quietly, smirking up at Luke from below.
“I’m not sure this is getting up,” Luke replies, tilting his head in his hands so the curls fall off to the right side. “I just wanted to get a better view of your face.”
“Sappy,” Calum says, pointedly ignoring the way that his words still manage to bring a lingering warmth to his cheeks. All he can do is smile.
“Dinner time?”
Calum groans. “I literally just got down here and now you’re going to make me move?” he complains jokingly, just to see the way that Luke smiles around a tiny laugh. He’ll keep striving to make Luke laugh for the rest of his life, mark his words.
“I didn’t make you come down here, you did that all on your own.”
Luke leans forwards on his palms, shifting slightly as he does so to brush his lips against Calum’s, just for a moment. Calum chases the warmth as it pulls away, arching his neck to get just another taste of Luke’s teasing. His smile is promising as he winks at Calum before pressing one more lasting kiss to his lips. He speaks into the small space between them. “I’ll tell you what.” He moves away slightly, going cross eyed as he stares down at Calum. “We get dinner delivered, then we eat it on the floor. Then we can keep laying on the floor just like this.”
With his last words, Luke drops himself down onto his stomach and rests his head on Calum’s chest carefully, ear pressed over the right side of his chest. Even in the wrong spot, Calum is sure that Luke can hear the slight uptick of his heart beating. Calum’s hand finds the back of Luke’s head immediately, threading long fingers into the winding curls at the base of his head.
“Okay,” Calum agrees.
Neither one of them move.