Red String of Fate

September 2014

Luke's lips are pulled up into a grin as he catches sight of Kara sitting at a booth in this diner that they'd frequented together whilst they were actually together in person. She's focused on the screen of her mobile phone so she only looks up when Luke wraps his arms around her figure and effectively makes her lose her balance, falling to her side with a little laugh.

"Get off me," Kara whines through laughter, trying to push him off of her, but he's not letting up.

"Missed you," Luke mumbles into her ear, still in an awkward half-standing, bent over position since his feet as planted on the ground as are his legs straightened, but his body's still leaning on Kara's.

"Lucas," Kara laughs again, trying to wiggle herself out of his grip. It's rather hard, since Luke's got a pretty tight grip around her shoulders. Luke's sure she's actually enjoying their weird ass hug, though.

"I know you missed me, too," he mumbles again, kissing her skin multiple times, mostly just to annoy her.

"Luke!" She finally exclaims with another laugh, pushing at his shoulder till he finally giggles and lets go of her, sliding into the booth, though it's opposite her since she pulls a face whenever Luke decides he wants to sit next to her. "You're mental," she laughs again, shaking her head lightly though the fond glint in her eyes tells him that she really did like it when he was being an annoying little shit.

Luke puckers his lips up, holding up a peace sign with his fingers, "Thanks. S'my speciality."

"Of course it is," Kara nods patronisingly, making Luke pout. She laughs again and Luke can't help but drop the pout in favour of his lips upturning at the corners.

"So..." he trails off, grinning slightly. "How've you been? What have I missed in good ole Sydney?"

Kara shrugs, "Nothing, honestly. Even if anything interesting did happen, I reckon I'm the wrong person to ask. I've, like, been doing things everyday? And if you asked me what I've been doing, I wouldn't be able to tell you because I, honest to God, have no fucking clue."

"What have you been doing?" Luke asks then, just because.

Kara blinks, shooting him a flat look. "Really, Luke? Really?"

"Really," he nods, grinning again. "C'mon, tell me. Apart from spending time with strangers who are potential kidnappers and/or sex worker traffickers at three in the morning, – "

"– you still haven't let that go?" Kara interrupts in an amused tone.

"– tell me what else you've been doing," Luke carries on talking as though she hadn't interrupted him at all. Then he shoots her a pointed look, "And no. I still haven't let that go," he mocks.

Kara breathes a laugh, shaking her head lightly in amusement. "You're gonna have to let it go eventually, babe."

Luke scoffs over dramatically, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'll let it go when I want to let it go, thanks. For now..." he trails off, and Kara just cocks an eyebrow up at him in silent question. "Get your cute arse over here and give me a proper kiss and then go back to your side."

---

"Babe!"

Kara sits up in bed in a rush, eyes half-lidded and her hair's a mess as she looks around her room. "Yeah? What? Who died?"

"No one died," Luke laughs, looking on at the girl who's sat up in bed with messy bed head and is currently rubbing at her eyes whilst using her other hand to cover her mouth while she lets out a massive yawn. "It's noon. Why are you not up yet?"

"Go away," she groans, letting her body fall back down onto the bed and pulling the duvet over her head.

Luke laughs gleefully again, jumping onto the bed with her and wiggling under the duvet, then wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her so that her back is pressed to his chest and they're, essentially, spooning. "You don't want me gone," he mumbles playfully, kissing her hair. Smells nice. Smells like... shampoo. A nice kind of shampoo.

"Not really, no," she mumbles sleepily, placing a hand over his that are rested on her stomach. "Why are you even here?" Kara asks then, yawning mid-sentence and earning a chuckle from the boy. "Wait, who even let you in?"

"Your sister," Luke says, burying his face in the back of her neck and sponging kisses to the skin he's got access to because why not, right?

"Kate's home? Thought she was in Perth," Kara mumbles again.

"Oh wait, no. Um. Jenna let me in."

"That's my sister-in-law, baby," she laughs breathily, patting the back of Luke's hand in a patronising manner and Luke laughs.

"Sorry. Still a bit confused about who's the in-law and who's the actual siblings. You've got, like, twenty siblings."

"Two brothers and one sister. That's... That's no where near to twenty,"

Luke scoffs, "Well sorry for only having two brothers."

Kara laughs then, shaking her head in amusement. "So really, why are you here? Not that I'm complaining, really, but yeah."

"Kiss me first."

"Let me go and I'll kiss you," she says and Luke loosens his grip around her middle, expecting her to turn around and kiss him. She doesn't. Kara gets up, making a dash for the bathroom and leaving behind a pouting Luke with outstretched hands in the direction she'd run off to. Kara comes back less than a minute later, this time with wet hands and wiping at her mouth. "Okay, now I'll kiss you."

Luke pouts, "Why wouldn't you kiss me before?"

"Morning breath, Lukey," she laughs, then she's leaning in and kissing him on his still-pouted lips. He wants to be all pouty for a while more, really, but he can't because kissing Kara just makes him want to smile and shit rainbows and kiss her till he can't breathe. Then he'll kiss her some more. "Are you gonna tell me why you're here or are we just gonna snog on the bed all day?" She mumbles against his lips.

"Second option – but till, like, six. We're going to a concert."

Kara pulls back, raising a brow, "Whose? Yours? Thought you guys had day offs till you have to go back on tour?" She asks and she actually genuinely sounds concerned for him. She probably is, honestly. The boys have been working non-stop and it's been far too many times that Luke has lost his voice mid-song and either Michael or Calum have had to take over his vocals.

Luke shakes his head. "Scored us the last few tickets of The Maine tonight. You do listen to The Maine, though, right? Because if you don't then I have nothing to say to you."

Kara laughs, dropping her forehead down onto his shoulder. "Yes, I do listen to The Maine," she says through a light laugh. Then she picks her head up to smile at him, "What brought this on?"

Luke shrugs, "Great music, with even greater company. Why not, you know?"

Kara just smiles at him then. And there's something in her beautiful eyes. He doesn't know what, but he knows that it's something and that he could get used to seeing that something in her eyes since she just looks so fond of him right now, and he really fucking likes that.

(Later that night, they're at the concert and standing in the front row since they'd come quite early, with Luke standing protectively behind Kara, arms around her. And if John O'Callaghan calls them out and says that the only way they were going to start their next song was if he and Kara kissed – prompting laughter from the burly security almost right in front of them – effectively gaining the attention of almost everyone who could see them and then start freaking out because he's Luke Hemmings and he leans down to kiss Kara full on the lips, he doesn't care. Because that just made this concert one of the best concerts he's ever been to.)

---

October 2014

"Hey," Luke says quietly, tightening his arms that are still wrapped around her middle.

"Hmm?" She hums, not taking her eyes off of the tele as she leans back a little bit more into Luke's chest, as though the action is almost unconscious and Luke wants to just smile and hold her and never let go because she's so fucking adorable and she's his and everything is right in the world. Well. Almost.

He leans forward the slightest bit, lips brushing the shell of her ear. Kara inhales a sharp breath when his lip ring grazes her skin and he has to bite back a triumphant smirk. Fucking loves that he's got that effect on her. Fucking loves her. So he says, "Kinda, sorta, possibly in love with you."

Kara angles her head then, so that he's kind of looking at her even though their faces are practically side-by-side. Luke's sure that he's blushing but he's smiling and he's got no intentions of taking back what he's said because it's true and he'll scream it to the world, even if love is just a word that people abuse so easily, just one emotion amongst hundreds. Thousands, even. Because Luke Hemmings is in love with Kara van Dyke and he doesn't partially know when it happened but he know that it happened and he just knew and it's a bloody amazing feeling – being in love with your best friend.

"Kinda, sorta, possibly in love with you, too," she mumbles eventually, a small smile curving at her lips.

And Luke's smile is so amazing when she says that and his eyes seem to shine brighter and it's all so bloody cliché but it's okay because their story was practically destined to be cliché from the start, really. So he leans down, quickly pecking her lips before pulling her body back to its original position where her back is pressed up against his chest and his arms are wrapped tight around her middle and his chin's able to rest on her shoulder and he can sponge little kisses to her shoulder, neck and/or cheek every now and then. Kara just leans into his touch again and they continue watching the film, as though they'd just had a little exchange about whether to order in pizza or go to the nearest Macca's and get chicken nuggets (and a Big Mac or something for Luke because everyone knows that the boy eats like a vacuum cleaner).

Then there's the scene in A Cinderella Story on the tele, where Austin runs off of the field, going to the bleachers to meet Sam before she leaves comes on and the two teenagers have both got pensive looks on their faces.

"But, like, what are the odds that it'd start raining now, of all times?" Luke scoffs, watching as the two interact in the cheesiest of cheesy movie scenes.

"It's a film, Lucas," Kara laughs, shaking her head in amusement. Then she turns her head to the side, staring out the window and letting out a 'huh'.

"'Sup?" Luke turns, too. "Huh. What are the odds of it literally raining now, too?"

"Like, one in fifty? I don't know," she shrugs.

"You know..." Luke trails off, a sly little smirk crossing his lips as Kara turns to look at him with an arched eyebrow. "It'll be a shame to let the rain pass without doing anything about it,"

Kara narrows her eyes over at him then, "What are you getting at?"

"Wanna go kiss in the rain?"

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"How serious are you right now?" She asks dubiously because, yeah, okay, this isn't the first time Luke's suggested something dumb and cliché and cheesy only to then back out of it with a laugh, saying he was only messing around.

"Hella," Luke smirks triumphantly. "Come on," he says then, somehow sliding out of his spot from behind her and then tugging her along by the hand, out his front door.

"Luke!" Kara laughs, shouting over the pouring rain. "It's raining too fucking hard for this!"

"Fuck that!" He yells back.

"Hemmo!" She yells again, laughing and Luke just keeps on tugging at her hand till they're in the middle of the barren road. Don't even know why they've got to be in the middle. Probably because most of the scenes in the films and things are when they're kissing right smack in the middle of the road. They're probably gonna get run over.

"We're probably gonna get run over soon," Luke says once he's tugged her body as close to his as humanly possible, one arm wrapped tight around her waist and pressing her stomach into his and she's leaning back so that their foreheads don't bump into each other in a painful way.

"Probably," Kara shrugs, agreeing. "But you wanted to do this."

"It's cheesy and cliché and, I mean," he scoffs, "Come on. We are literally Austin and Sam."

Kara shrugs again, "True."

"Okay. So kiss me," Luke practically demands then.

"Why should I kiss you?"

"Why should I kiss you?"

"This was your bloody idea!"

"Yeah, but – " he cuts himself off, eyes darting to the end of the road where he sees headlights of a car approaching. "Fuck. Quick. Kiss me. We're gonna die."

Kara darts her eyes over to the car too and they widen before she's leaning in and planting her lips on his for a quick close-mouthed kiss. Only, that isn't enough for Luke, so he's wrapping his arm that's already around her even tighter around her body and leaning in once more to desperately slot his lips between hers and she's smiling, kissing him back, before she's pulling away.

"Seriously," she says as they pull apart. "We're gonna die."

"Yeah we should get out of the way,"

"Probably,"

"Yeah,"

"Now,"

"Yup," Luke nods and then he's bending down to scoop her up in his arms – each arm under her knees and back –, running back to the sidewalk just as the car that's going insanely fast zooms by. The two teenagers are laughing joyfully, hair matted to their foreheads, eyes barely being able to open – let alone see anything – because the rain is pouring down on them so hard. Luke spins around a couple of times, just for good measure, then he's letting back down onto her feet and they're still giggling madly amongst themselves. And even when the car that's zoomed by splashes bits of water onto their calves, they're still laughing – completely uncaring of it because they're happy and in love and they're just feeling amazing.

"I really fucking love you, Princess," Luke says once he's calmed down, fingers going to push her hair back away from her face.

"Good," Kara smiles, nodding as she quickly leans in to kiss him. "Because I really fucking love you, Hemmo."

"This is so cliché,"

"Ehh," she shrugs, "Would you have it any other way?"

Luke puts a finger on his chin, tapping on it thoughtfully. Then he beams at her, shaking his head, "Wouldn't trade this for anything else in the world."

And Kara smiles again, only making Luke lean in to kiss her again. It's like he's addicted to kissing her. If kissing her's a drug then he's an addict and he's not going to seek help because he'd very much like to continue getting high off of her kisses, for as long he'd be able to.

"So, um, not be a moment ruiner but... you've got a concert tomorrow and you're probably gonna have a cold."

"Oh yeah... Fuck."

So yeah. Luke Hemmings woke up the next day with a stuffed nose and running a high fever, cuddled up to his girlfriend who was sniffling in her sleep – no doubt also developing symptoms of a cold. And yeah, he had a concert that same night and was probably going to sound terrible because of his stuffed nose but he couldn't care less because he got the girl – the girl who's his best friend in the whole entire world – and they got their cliché kiss in the rain.

What more could he possibly ask for?

(Luke could ask for the cold to go away but that's not possible without some medication so he's just gonna be content with this moment, right now with Kara, because this is all that matters. Cold or not. It's still pretty fucking amazing.)