Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/3311642.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Choose_Not_To_Use_Archive_Warnings, Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      5_Seconds_of_Summer_(Band)
  Relationship:
      Michael_Clifford/Luke_Hemmings
  Character:
      Luke_Hemmings, Michael_Clifford, Ashton_Irwin, Calum_Hood, Original
      Characters
  Additional Tags:
      Homophobia, High_School, what_do_i_taaaaaag
  Stats:
      Published: 2015-07-06 Chapters: 3/? Words: 1646
****** Engraved Lines ******
by SupernaturalMystery306
Summary
     Luke Hemmings: The boy who lost everything when his best friend
     decided to out him to a school full of homophobic people.
     Ashton Irwin: The boy who just doesn’t understand why people bully
     the blonde kid who wears fluffy sweaters.
     Calum Hood: Ex-friend of Ashton Irwin. Social outcast.
     Michael Clifford: The new person at school. The person who knows that
     Luke Hemmings belongs to someone. That someone is him.
     Engraved Lines is a story starring Luke Hemmings as a depressed kid,
     Ashton Irwin as the clueless boy who doesn't know why people are mean
     to the once-upon-a-time-star-of-the-school kid who wears sweaters.
     Calum Hood plays the part of a social outcast and Michael Clifford is
     the punkish new guy at school who decides that a certain blond is
     his.
Notes
     EXPECT VERY SHORT CHAPTERS, AND VERY LITTLE UPDATES. SORRY.
     I want you all to know, this story is mostly from the perspective of
     someone who was once popluar, so it's going to be a little vain.
     Of course, I myself am far from popular, so I don't know shit about
     being known or stuff (I'm only known for being weird) so I'm sorry if
     some of the stuff is offending to anyone.
See the end of the work for more notes
***** Prologue *****
Chapter Notes
     This chapter has been added as a prologue, as of July 6th (and it's
     7th in Australia so this is like a gift to Ashton - HAPPY BIRTHDAY
     BABY-, although I'm 197% sure he won't want to read this stuff. XD)
     I had my friend AsuraCalling read this over for me. She suggested
     stuff, and I'm not sure if I was able to present this properly, but
     here it is. She's awesome.
     Heh, last year, on the 7th, my uncle got married. :P
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Luke Robert Hemmings, 16, is gay. It’s not a secret. Everyone knows it.
An introvert by nature, he generally keeps to himself. He always has. Even when
he was a little boy, he preferred to play on the swings alone, or with just a
few people. And then he grew up, got a lot more acquaintances. But that’s all
they were. They weren’t friends of the blond boy. And Luke was a good judge of
character, he knew who he could or could not trust. So he stuck with the few
people who came under the category of trustworthy while also being fun.
(Because who doesn’t want those people as friends, the ones who always make
others laugh?) Consequently, it was rare for people to know much about him.
Just a handful of friends who knew his secrets.
But there was one secret he had, which he was scared to share with even his
closest friends, because while they were all considered nice, honestly? They
were not. He didn’t want to risk the wrong information getting into the wrong
hands.
Still, it got out.
Not by choice, though. He was stabbed in the back.
The first person to know it was Eric Marsh, Luke’s best friend when he was
fifteen. Luke was the one who broke the news to him, because he knew he could
trust him. And Eric had smiled, told him it was okay, that he had his back, and
that no one would mind.
Luke was a bit sceptical, because the people in his school weren’t the most
friendly, and were, by far, not the most accepting people. They did not like
change.
And if this secret was out, they’d not be happy. Why? Because Luke Hemmings was
popular. He was on the football team, had one of the prettiest cheerleaders for
a girlfriend, liked making fun of the nerds. (At least, people thought he did.)
To know that this was a facade, that he was actually gay, preferred boys over
girls would not only leave him prone to social dismissal, but also give the
outsiders, nerds, losers the hope that they could climb up the ladder, to the
position of the elite. And this just wasn’t acceptable, was it? It was an order
for a reason.
So Luke had asked Eric to keep it a secret.
Eric, bless the dear boy, had given Luke some more courage, some more solace.
His older brother, Caleb Marsh, who had been passing by, had asked what was
making them so secretive. Luke had glanced at him nervously, then at Eric, who
had murmured comfortingly, ‘It’s okay, he won’t say anything.’
Still, Luke had just shaken his head, and replied a ‘Nothing.’ to Caleb, voice
soft. He really didn’t want it to be a big deal.
Later, Luke had gone home and told his parents and brothers, who had all hugged
him and told him he had nothing to fear. They loved him regardless.
In his bed that night, he had thanked god, for such a loving family and friend.
The fact that he had gone to Eric first, and not Jack (the brother he was
closer to out of the two he had) spoke volumes about his friendship with the
boy.
The next day, Luke had gone to school happily, with a skip in his step that can
only be present when a secret is shared with a trusted person, knowing that
they’d take it to the grave for you. But that excitement had died down a bit
when he had realized that everybody was acting strange. Like, not hostile or
anything, but just… sombre. Still, he didn’t know what the deal was, so he had
gone by with half his day before going to lunch to look for Eric.
And Eric, the boy who had been so accepting, so loving the previous day, had
turned to him when he had reached their table, and had asked calmly, a glint of
something unpredictable in his eyes, ‘So, anything you’d like to share with the
class- no, school?’
And some other boy from the table had stood up and walked over to Luke’s side,
looking down at him, and continued, ‘Like, oh, the fact that you’re a fag?’
The first unexpected thing of the day was the fact that he hadn’t seen Eric
since the previous evening, because they always hung out between lessons, and
this conversation had been the second.
The third, however, was the punch that came from Eric himself. Luke had
staggered, dizzy and horrified, and so utterly clueless as to what was
happening, with just one thought running through his head, ‘He’s my friend,
isn’t he?’
Eric was not a homophobe, dammit. He was one of the few people in this school
who didn’t give a shit about such things. And he was the only popular person
who didn’t. Then why was he acting like one? Because the only thing that could
have explained the situation was his aversion Luke’s sexuality.
Why?
That was also the first time Luke had ever been on the receiving end of a
slushie, after having had his head bashed against the table and shoved away.
In the following days, Luke became pretty familiar everything that was
associated with a loser.
Eric Marsh had changed.
Luke just didn’t know why.
Chapter End Notes
     Um, well, thoughts?
***** Chapter 1 *****
Luke exhaled. It was over. Another day in the shitty place over. 347 days left.
Walking with his head down, he didn’t see the boy in front of him until it was
too late.
Pushing Luke to the ground, Eric Marsh growled, “Out of my way, faggot.” His
goons guffawed.
He sighed inwardly. Fucking assholes. Without reacting, he kept walking.
If anyone had asked him two years ago if these people were bad, he would have
punched them. Hell, Joanna Wills had asked him why he hung out with them. He
had sneered at her, told her to fuck off and go paint her nails while gossiping
with her friends about their boyfriends’ dicks.
Look where it landed him. Friendless, girlfriendless. Popularity-less.
Everything-less. Less-less.
He smiled deprecatingly.
Continuing on his way, he thinks about what went wrong.
Two years ago, Luke Hemmings was the star of the school, the boy who all the
girls wanted to date. The student who teachers loved. Looks, athletic
abilities, smarts, hot girlfriend, he had it all.
And now, Luke Hemmings is the name of the boy who is a homosexual
disappointment to everyone. His ex-girlfriend- the girl he told to fuck off- is
the girlfriend of his once best friend. The once best friend who told everyone
he was gay. Who stripped Luke of all he held dear to himself. Who kicked him
off the football team. Who knew how important being on the team was for Luke.
The best friend, who used to be Eric Marsh.
Luke just sighs and keeps walking, eager to get home.
Because there was no one at home.
Because he was going to get solitude.
Because he wouldn't have to watch out for his presence.
***** Chapter 2 *****
He remembers the day it happened.
He was at the bus stop, waiting to catch a ride home before the rain got worse.
Running a hand through his hair, trying to get the water out, he had only
managed to ruin it even more.
Just as he was about to give up and walk home, he had hear the noise of the
bus.
He waited expectantly.
And was disappointed.
Some stupid asshat had decided it would be fun to cruise around in a bus. Which
meant that the bus he heard was not, in fact, the public bus like he had
thought it was, but just a bus some stupid (when were they not) highschooler
kid with a run out stash of cocaine had decided to hijack.
He couldn’t help but feel as if he was  being watched, and suddenly, he grew
cold, palms sweating.
There was only one person who it could be. Eric.
But as he had turned his head to look over his shoulder, he didn’t find his
tormentor. Instead,  Michael Clifford’s eyes bore into his, a smirk playing on
the other boy’s face.
He had only arrived in town a few days back, and already he was known in school
for some pretty shitty stuff. Like the fact that he had done time in juvie for
blowing up some poor bastard’s house.
Needless to say, Luke wasn’t interested in ‘socializing’ with the boy. And who
knew, perhaps he was buddies with Eric.
“Need a ride?” Clifford had asked, deceptively sweet, gesturing to the car he
was leaning against.
“N-no,” Luke had stammered, not daring to look away, because he knew that if he
did, there was  no knowing what the guy could do.
“But you don’t really seem to have the resources to get home, now do you? Your
brother’s not here. And there’s no bus.” Michael had shrugged.
Luke’s heart beat loudly. He was scared. How the heck did Michael know Jack was
the one who picked him up from school?
“Also, it’s raining pretty heavily.” And he was smirking again.
Luke had refused again, before starting to walk.
And then Michael had driven off in his car, but not before waving at Luke.
And late at night, when he was about to slip into bed, Luke had received a text
from an unknown number.
sleep well. xx
And a moment later, another had arrived.
come see me in the biochem lab tomorrow. xx
When he had looked up the number in the Truecaller app, Michael Clifford’s name
came up.
Luke had frozen up, looking at the screen blankly. No one even had the new
number of his. He had changed it after the whole fiasco. Not a single person
had it.
Except for Michael Clifford, apparently.
Luke hadn’t gone to school the next day.
End Notes
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