Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Calum you better sit with me!” Luke giggled as he passed his duffel bag to a teacher.

“Not if I sit with him first!” Ashton yelled as he and Calum both bolted to the bus. Luke ran after them, faltering on one of the stairs, but ended up squishing next to Calum to assure he got his seat.

“Loser,” Ashton retorted, sticking his tongue out before laughing, and sat in the seats across from them.

“Luke, get off!” Calum muffled from under Luke’s shoulder. Luke laughed, and pushed himself off of Calum. He slouched in his seat, already getting comfortable for the long ride ahead. The three boys talked and joked as the rest of the class made their way into the remaining seats.

Right before they were supposed to leave, Ashton stopped in the middle of his fit of laughter: “Where’s Michael?”

“He said he was coming. He’s probably just a little late,” mumbled Calum, his face in his phone. Sure enough, Luke saw the redhead tossing his suitcase in the belly of the bus through the window.

Jogging down the aisle, he plops down in the seat next to Ashton. “It was about time you showed up!” Ash jokes, punching Michael lightly in the shoulder. Michael laughed, flicked him off off, and punched him back. Soon enough, they were in a huge fake fight that captured the attention of almost the entire coach bus of students.

“Clifford! Irwin! That’s quite enough,” Mr. Perry said over the microphone. Both boys smirked as they straightened their shirts. “Now this is a very long ride we all have together. Let’s try to keep the noise down. When it gets dark in a couple hours, I want lights out, and please try to sleep. We’ll get to Myrtle at around 11am tomorrow, and when we get there, we’ll talk itinerary. If you need me, I’ll be in the front seats.”

As soon as Mr. Perry turned around, Ashton started poking Michael again, instigating the fight again.

“Fuck off,” Michael groaned, pushing Ashton’s hands away. Ash just giggled, and put his earbuds in. Once Ashton left Michael alone, Michael swiveled in his seat to the other two boys.

“Hey, guess what?” Michael said, a huge grin spread across his face.

“What?” both Calum an Michael said in unison. “I brought a TV.”

Calum let out a grunt of doubt, and Luke just stared at the boy like he had six heads. “Guys, I’m not kidding. And, I shoved in a GameCube with a couple games!” Michael reaches for his enormous backpack under the seat and sure enough produces a thirteen inch flatscreen with the power cord, a GameCube, and two games.

“Dude, what the fuck?” Ash said, taking his earbuds out. Luke’s mouth made a small O at the sight.

“It’s time for a Super Smash Bros tournament.” Michael smirked, plugging in the TV into the outlets in between his and Ashton’s seats. They sat in the aisle and all played against each other for a solid hour and a half. They made a bet that whoever lost had to sleep on the floor, and the winner got two seats to himself. Soon enough, the sun set, and the TV screen was too distracting for the people trying to sleep. "Five minutes, boys." Mr. Perry screeched over the microphone before cocooning himself in blankets. The loser ended up being Calum, who half heartedly shoved his six foot frame in between the seats. Luke, the winner, chuckled as Calum attempted to wrap his blanket around himself.

“Comfy, Calum?” giggled Ashton. Calum would’ve flicked him off, but his limbs were too cramped to move, so he just grunted as he shifted to find a more comfortable position. Luke, although he had both seats to himself, sat in the seat by the window and stared out. He couldn’t sleep, and by the time the album he was listening to ended, everyone but him was asleep. Or so he thought.

The vibration from his phone startled him. It was 2:47 in the morning; who could be texting him so late at night?

From: Michael
Cant sleep? ;)

Luke rolled his eyes and looks at Michael. His face is illuminated by the screen of his phone, smiling big up at Luke. Luke laughs and pats the seat next to him. Michael untangles himself from his blanket and moves across the aisle to sit next to Luke.

“Hey” whispered Luke.
“Hello. Shouldn’t the winner be enjoying his prize?” joked Michael.
Luke rolled his eyes again and smiled, “I can’t sleep anyway, so what’s the point?”
Michael hummed in response, shifting a little bit closer to Luke.

“Wanna listen to music?” Luke asks, holding ant earbud out for Michael. He takes it, and they listen to almost an hours worth of music. By 4, neither of them have slept a wink. They had gone through Luke’s entire phone trying to find something to do. They ended up sitting in silence, minds wide awake.

All of a sudden, Michael spoke, “Can I say something?” Luke nods in response, “I need to tell you something. You know that trip for Choir we went on last month?” He took a deep breath, “You were sitting across from me, and right there, with you in your bow tie, I wanted to kiss you. But I didn’t, because I was scared of what would happen. I’ve felt the same way ever since. You’re so beautiful when you talk about stuff you love, and your laugh is so contagious.” He stopped. Luke was so surprised and anxious, he didn’t say anything. He just sat there, staring at the seat in front of him, chewing on his lip ring. He could feel Michael’s eyes on him, wanting him to respond. How was he supposed to respond to that?

“But now, I’m not scared of what’s going to happen.” Michael whispered, coming closer. Luke’s heart was drumming in his ears. He looked at Michael just as Michael looked away, “That was kind of insinuating something.” Michael was just about to give up when he felt a cold hand guide his face back to Luke’s. He immediately felt Luke’s lips on his, barely being able to comprehend what was happening before Luke pulled away. It was short, but it caused shock waves to go through Michael’s body. He stared into the blonde’s eyes. There was no way he was sleeping now. Luke Hemmings had just been his first kiss.

Luke nuzzled his head into the crook of Michael’s neck and Michael wrapped his arm around Luke;s waist. They cuddled together, both very awake and hyper aware of each other’s heartbeat.

After a while, Luke spoke, “When is the sunrise?” Michael took his phone out and checked, “Five minutes.” They waited in comfortable silence, watching the sky turn from deep indigo to deep oranges and purples and finally yellow and brilliant orange as the sun broke the horizon. Holding hands, the boys watched in awe, forgetting about everyone else on the bus. It was just them and the sun.