Red String of Fate

May 2014

"Princess?"

"Yeah, Hemmo?"

Luke's lips curl up at the corners at the nickname. He turns his head to look at her and she's still staring at the stars with a tiny smile on her lips. "Do you ever think about what it'd be like if we'd never met?"

She shrugs her shoulders, still not turning to look at him, "Not really. Things might be different if we didn't meet, though, and not, like, meet in person, because it took us three years to do that," Kara lets out a soft laugh, turning her head to look at him for a brief moment before turning back to look at the night sky.

"Like what?"

"What d'you mean?"

"Like, what do reckon would be different?" Luke asks curiously, propping an elbow up and resting his chin in his open palm as he looks at her. She is so beautiful and he could stare at her all day.

Kara turns to look at him then with a little smile on her lips. She shrugs, "Maybe you'd have somehow convinced Aleisha to get back together with you," she suggests and Luke wants to say that she's saying it because she's jealous of his ex, but she's not. Simply because if Luke hadn't called Kara up, distraught, and have her tell him that maybe his ex didn't love him as much as he loved her and that he'd basically be wasting his time by trying to win her back – Luke would've probably tried really damn hard to get her back.

Which also kind of loops back to how he's got a massive crush on Kara now. So it's her fault that he's got a crush on her. Damn her for being so adorable and likeable and a generally great person. (Except for the smoking bit. He's still not a fan of that.)

"God knows you'd probably be going out and stuff way more because you seem to always be the only one in the hotel room or tour bus when we Skype and stuff," Kara adds after a brief moment of silence, and Luke laughs, dropping his bent elbow so that he's fully on his back again – also staring up at the sky.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Anything,"

"What do your tattoos mean?" He asks, turning to look at her just as she bends her elbow, other hand going to trace her tattoos.

"These things," she refers to the thick black bands, "I don't know. Just thought they looked kinda cool,"

"I like 'em," Luke offers and Kara grins back at him in thanks.

"Roses because the roses are pretty. Also, they're kind of, like, for my, uh, late grandma. She liked roses, and I was really close to her, so yeah," she trails off. Luke opens his mouth, about to apologise for her loss, but she continues talking before he can start, "And um, this," she refers to the phrase that he was wondering about when he first realised that she had tattoos, "– is my late uncle's name. Was really close to him, too, and... yeah..."

"I'm, uh, I'm sorry for your losses," Luke says quietly, because a part of him is kind of hurt that she's lost people in her life, and she never told him about it. He's sure that they were probably already friends because he remembers her telling him about her going to visit her grandma, or going to play video games with her uncle, before. So it hurts a bit, knowing that she didn't think she could talk to him because she was upset.

"Why do people say that?" Kara asks, breaking him out of his thoughts.

He blinks, not realising that he'd been staring at her the whole time. His cheeks blush with colour and he's quick to look away – but Kara's been too focused on looking up at the night sky to notice him staring at her, so it's all good. (Kinda.) "Say what?" He asks, clearing his throat as he, too, stares up at the star-littered sky again.

"Apologise," she says. "Why do people apologise when someone passes away?"

"I... don't know," he admits with a shrug. "It's polite, I guess,"

"But when so many people say it, it losses it's meaning, doesn't it? Random people I've never seen before in my entire life come up to me, say I'm sorry, and then they talk like they'd been best mates with my uncle, or with my grandma, when they probably spoke like five times in their entire lifetimes. It's stupid,"

Luke lets out a single laugh. The sound's soft through the dead silence of the night. Understandable, though, since it is, like, half three in the morning. Kara turns her head to look at him, give him a little smile that has his heart beating just a little faster, before she's turning back to look at the sky. It's a beautiful night and he's in the company of a beautiful girl. It's all great, really. Save for the fact that he kind of wishes they were cuddling and holding hands and maybe kissing a little.

"Doesn't it scare you?" Kara asks quietly, after they've been silent for a few minutes. Luke turns to look at her, humming questioningly, and Kara doesn't turn to look at him but she tilts her chin in the direction of the sky, "That. To know that we're such tiny, tiny beings amongst every other thing. The stars look so small from down here but they're really not as tiny as we think they are and we're the most minuscule speck of dust there is, compared to the stars. We're microscopic compared to the smallest star there is. And one day... One day, we're going to cease to exist and those stars will still be there, like they have been for years and years, and it's scary,"

Luke's tongue darts out to run across his lips, dampening his dry lips. He shrugs his shoulders again, turning to gaze up at the sky again, "We're all going to die one day,"

Kara glances at him, the corner of her lip curled up slightly, "True. But still. It's scary to think about how... insignificant we actually are, compared to everything else in the universe. And, like, humans think they're the most amazing things ever and they're not because all we are are things tinier than little planktons compared to the Earth, the stars, the universe."

"Dying scares me," Luke admits quietly. "What happens when you die? The only people that knows what happens after you die are dead people, and that scares the shit out of me,"

Kara's quiet after that till she finally speaks up, "I'm not afraid of death," she says, and Luke turns his head to look at her. Kara's already looking at him with a little smile on her lips. He raises a brow at her statement, and she shrugs a shoulder, "What's the point in living if you're so afraid of dying?"

---

to Kara ♕
i have a problem.

-

to Hemmo ♪ ♫ ♪
like a real problem or like I'm v bored pls entertain me kinda problem?

-

to Kara ♕
like a legit problem

to Kara ♕
kind of

-

to Hemmo ♪ ♫ ♪
wanna meet up?

-

to Kara ♕
if you're free then yeah

-

to Hemmo ♪ ♫ ♪
i'm actually expensive but sureeee. the park with the swings in thirty minutes?

-

to Kara ♕
idiot. and okay :-)

---

Luke can't help the smile that tugs at his lips as he recognises her back sat on the swings. She's mindlessly swinging herself back and forth with her feet, but her head's ducked down and probably focused on her phone. He jogs quietly over to her, poking her in either of her sides and she jumps, almost dropping her phone as he lets out a triumphant laugh.

"You're ticklish!" He cheers, "I have something to use against you now!"

"Please don't," Kara shakes her head, laughing lightly. "I won't be held responsible for accidentally kicking and/or punching you if you ever randomly start to tickle me."

"Oh," Luke blinks, "Kinky," he smirks then, winking for full effect before he can stop himself and Kara bends forwards, laughing and bringing a hand to her mouth.

"Oh my, God," she splutters out between laughter. "You're so dumb, fucking hell," she breathes out, shaking her head in amusement as Luke chuckles along, going to sit in the swing next to hers.

There aren't any little kids around for them to have to fight off for the swings, simply because it's past dinner time and they're the only ones at the park, really. Understandable; since the park's pretty damn creepy once the sun goes down. Luke's sure he's heard a couple of horror stories originating from this park that they're at and he's actually kind of scared, but he's got Kara with him and he has to protect her.

... Oh who is he trying to kid? He's probably going to run screaming at the slightest creepy sound or thing he might see, and leave Kara behind, no matter how much he likes the girl.

"So... What's up?" She asks, still swinging herself back and forth gently, gaze going to him before going back to her feet.

Luke takes in a breath. He didn't really think it through before he asked her for help. Truth was, the problem he was having was how he had a crush on her and how he didn't know how to tell her without ruining their friendship – but he really wanted to tell her because he didn't want her to date anyone else and there were times that he was sure that she felt the same way for him and –

It's all too much for Luke's brain to handle, okay. How he wishes he was still in primary school and could just write her a tacky love note, declaring how much he liked her. And if she didn't like him, they'd just continue to be best friends like he'd never confessed in the first place. Those were simpler times.

He exhales slowly, shrugging a shoulder and darting his eyes to his shoes. "Just... like, I don't know," he mumbles. "Like, how – I don't – how do – ugh, this is hard," he mutters to himself, shaking his head.

"Hey," Kara's gentle voice makes him look up. She's looking at him with an encouraging smile on her lips and she's not swinging anymore. Full attention's on him – also making him a lot more nervous. "You can tell me anything. You know that, yeah?"

"Yeah," he mumbles, nodding and darting his eyes away from her face. "Okay," Luke takes in another deep breath. "Okay," he repeats, a little louder and more firmer this time, another nod accompanying the word he's said.

He turns to Kara, "So say I've got a crush on this girl, right?" He starts with a rhetorical question and his eyes are probably way too focused on her face because he notices the slight drop in her expression and then she's gulping, but other than that: there's no drastic reaction. She's good at schooling her features and he fucking hates it because he's her best friend and he can't even tell if she's affected by what he's saying from her facial expressions, while she can do that so easily.

But Luke's hopeful, and he's also pretty sure he saw the sudden sharp inhale, the gulp, the flicker of something in her eyes, the slight knotting together of her eyebrows. So he's going to stay hopeful and tell himself that there's still a possibility that she feels the same way for him as he does for her.

She raises an eyebrow, nodding, "And?"

And maybe Luke has to bite down on his bottom lip because although it sounds like her voice is strained as she's prompting for him to go on, she's still prompting him to go on. Even if Kara's hurt that he's got a crush on this girl (who is her, duh, but she doesn't know that), she's still willing to listen to him talk about "her."

"And," Luke emphasises, ending with a sigh. "I dunno, really. I don't know how to tell her that I like her? Like, I really bloody like this girl and it's kind of scaring me, but she's a good friend of mine and like, I don't want to lose her as a friend, but I also want to, you know, date her? I want to be able to take her out and kiss her and show her off and make everyone jealous that that gorgeous human being is mine and not yours and, – " he sighs over dramatically, shrugging a shoulder. "I don't know."

He knows he's making it risky by basically saying that she (as in the girl that he's got a crush on) is a close friend. If Kara notices and asks him if he's referring to her (which he doubt will happen) then that's bloody fantastic. But if she doesn't, and just assumes that he's talking about some other girl that he's also close friends with then... well. Luke's going have to come up with a plan B. (And C, and D, and E, and F, because God knows he's probably going to be too shy to execute whatever crazy plan he's come up with.)

Kara takes in a breath, shrugging a shoulder and breaking eye contact that was established between the two. She darts her eyes back down to her feet, swinging back and forth again. "Just... tell her. If you don't, you might lose her to some other guy. And, like, if you're scared to, like, tell her in person then just, I don't know. Kiss her, I guess. It's the easiest way. I reckon it's the most effective, too, since you won't have to use words and things, since we both know you're not that good with words in person, since you're so shy and awkward and things," she glances at him with a little smirk painted on her lips and Luke's jaw drops, scoffing in offence as a hand is brought to his heart.

"Why you gotta be so rude?"

Kara scoffs, shaking her head in amusement, "You're dumb."

"Literally serenading you and you call me dumb," Luke deadpans. "Wow. You're great."

Kara winks and Luke's heart may have skipped a beat, "I know. Must be why you still hang out with me so much,"

Luke shrugs, smiling at her rather shyly, turning his head so that he's just looking in front now. "You're good company, Princess."

"You're not bad company yourself, Hemmo."

---

"Lucas," Kara says in a warning tone though the smile on her lips completely betrays the tone she's trying to use, since she's about to start laughing, too.

"What?" Luke asks innocently, smiling and blinking his bright blue eyes over at her as he edges closer.

"Excuse me, sir," she laughs, outstretching a hand to push him back. Though it's kind of useless since Luke's way stronger than she is and he can easily push her hand off, but he just lets her place her hand on his chest in an attempt to push him back. "You don't work here so I'm gonna need you to get out."

The blonde pouts his bottom lip, "But my best friend works here. I should get some perks, right?"

"Are the free drinks not enough?" Kara laughs, shaking her head in amusement and still trying to gently push him even though he's taking more steps forward and in response, she's taking small steps back.

They're already behind the counter area, where she usually makes the drinks (and uses the blender and boils the hot water) and Luke is definitely not supposed to be there, but he doesn't seem to be giving a shit. Truth be told, Kara doesn't seem to particularly care, either, seeing as the shutters are already pulled down and it's only the two of them left – the other person she was working with gone before they could start closing up together because of the family emergency he'd had.

"Nah," Luke clicks his tongue, shaking his head with a little grin adorning his handsome face. "I wanna see the behind-the-scenes thing and all," he uses hand gestures to refer to the area they're at and there's really nothing much to see, he's just trying to find an excuse to be near her. This excuse is working really well.

"I have to start closing!" She laughs in protest, shoving him away gently.

Luke only steps back closer to her, a little smirk on his face. "But the shutters are already closed?"

"Yeah, well, I've got to wash the blenders and the cups and wipe down the counters and sweep and do a hell of a lot of other shit," she scoffs in response, giving him a shit-eating grin paired with a raised eyebrow and she looks so fucking cute that Luke's literally so tempted to just lean down and start kissing her.

I'm gonna do it, he tells himself, shaking with nervousness at the prospect of being rejected on the inside but maintaining his confident façade on the outside. I'm gonna kiss her and risk it all.

Luke frowns then, eyes darting to over her shoulder. He lifts a hand, pointer finger stretched out, "What's that?" He asks and as expected, she turns to look at the non-existent thing that he's pointing at.

"What's what?" She asks while still facing away from him, and he chooses that moment to poke her in the side (he knows now that she's ticklish so he's going to use that to his advantage) and she startles slightly, turning back to him with narrowed eyes, "You d– " she starts, only she never gets to finish her sentence. Or, well, insult.

Because he's leaned down and used his hands to cup either side of her face and he's kissing her. He's got his lips on hers and his eyes are screwed shut so tightly because Luke's afraid that Kara's going to shove him off and he's properly messed up one of the best things that's happened to him. He'd be content with her staying in his life as just a best friend, so as long as she's still there.

And it's a very long second later that she finally moves her lips against his, kissing him back and when she does, his body lets out the most relieved sigh and slump ever. Kara rests one hand on his hip while the other goes to the back of his neck, tugging gently at the hairs resting on the nape of his neck, and it feels so good because he likes when people plays with his hair and kissing her is an amazing feeling. And he's never kissed someone else with a lip ring, too, so that was a whole new feeling of pure awesomeness that he hopes he'd never have to not feel again because Luke has plans on kissing her again and again and again.

Luke takes a step forward, moving his hands from where they were still cupping either side of her cheeks in favour of placing them on her hips and then lifting her up onto the counter. Kara made a sound of surprise – a weird cross between a squeal and a laugh – that instantly made Luke smile against her lips. She was the first one to pull away, chest heaving up and down as she tried to catch her breath – eyes still shut with either of her hands on Luke's broad shoulders.

Luke's lips upturn at the corners, eyes slowly fluttering open as he leans forward to rest his forehead against hers. He's trying to catch his breath, too, but he's also trying to stop himself from kissing her redder than before lips because he hasn't actually properly kissed anyone since that one groupie that he'd sort of hooked up with because he was horny and he's a teenage boy.

Can anyone really blame him for taking advantage of the fact that he's got willing girls just there, basically offering themselves to him? The answer is that no, they cannot.

She was a groupie, though, and this is Kara. This is the girl that he's had a crush on for ages but has never admitted it to himself because of him being afraid. This is the girl who brightens his day just by texting him a dumb joke or an unflattering selfie. This is the girl he worries about when she doesn't respond within five minutes, and makes him half-tempted to spam her mobile with calls and texts till she responds. This is his Kara. And he can't fuck this up – whatever this currently is.

Kara finally blinks her eyes open and she looks so cute with a little half-grin on her face that Luke can't help but lean in and quickly peck her on the lips, pulling back with a child-like grin on his face.

"Hi," Luke whispers, still grinning.

"Hello," she laughs in response, her voice quiet, too.

"If you haven't figured it out yet... you're the girl I was talking about," he says with the shy grin still lighting up his face. One corner of Kara's lips curve up as she breathes another quiet laugh.

Luke's smile drops then, in favour of his teeth gnawing on his bottom lip and tongue messing with his lip ring. "Was that, um, was that okay?" Luke clears his throat nervously – as though finally realising that he'd finally grown a pair of balls and kissed her but what if she didn't like him like that? What if she only kissed him back to be polite? What if she hated him now? What if she never wanted to see him again because he's made things awkward? What if – ?

He's interrupted mid-thought and worrying by a pair of soft lips (save for the cool lip ring against his non-pierced side of his bottom lip) landing on his own and Luke's eyes are wide before they instantly fall shut and a small smile flits onto his face as he kisses her back, arms going to wrap around her waist and pull her tighter against his body; simultaneously manoeuvring himself so that he's stood between her legs now.

Kara's the first one to pull away again and Luke literally wants to start whining because he's not done kissing her and he wants to kiss her until their lips are red and swollen and bruised from the attack of the other's lips. He compensates by trailing kisses away from her lips to her cheek, then her jawline, then her neck. She angles her head to the side and gives him more access to her skin, fingers tangled in his hair, and when a little whimper escapes her throat, Luke's instantly got a smirk stretched across his lips because he's being a cocky little shit. And he knows he probably shouldn't leave a mark on her skin, no matter how much he wants to, so he trails his lips back up her neck till they finally find her lips and they're kissing again – like they were always meant to be kissing each other.

Luke pulls away when he finally realises that he needs oxygen to live and if he wants to kiss her again, he's gonna need to keep on living. One of his hand's gripping her thigh and one of her leg's around his waist. He didn't even realise them getting that close. Not like he minded, though. He opens his eyes slowly, grinning at her toothily.

"I really, really, really fucking like you," he mumbles shyly, pressing his forehead down onto hers.

Kara smiles, "S'good," she nods once. "Really fucking like you, too."

And the smile that comes onto his lips is so large that he's surprised it's not hurting his cheeks, and he's also blushing a bit but he's trying to ignore that. He leans down, planting kiss after kiss on her lips. She laughs lightly, pushing him away gently as she leans back, away from him. "That's very good," Luke beams, "I'm gonna kiss you again."

"M'not stopping you," Kara smiles and Luke's doing just that. He's kissing her again and they're both smiling and they're totally disregarding the fact that once they eventually stop they'll have to deal with the whole 'what are we' talk. And they're also disregarding the fact that Kara's still got to close up the shop and Luke's probably going to be helping with sweeping the little shop up. But in that moment: it's just Luke and Kara – two teenagers who 'met' under unordinary circumstances and are currently kissing each other like they're each other's lifelines behind the closed shutters of the little coffee shop.

And it's pretty fucking fantastic.