#puckerupluke

Michael cut you off by slamming his lips against yours, his hands slowly rising up to cup your face as you felt Michael’s tears falling onto your cheeks, a sob escaping your throat the second he pulled away. “You feel that?” he breathed out, his gaze intense as his hazel eyes glared into yours. “That’s love. That’s something I’ve never felt with anyone else before, and that’s something I’m not just gonna let go of.”

“Michael-”

“Do you know how bad I wish I could give you the fucking world? To be there for you all the time like a good boyfriend is? I’ve been fearing this day since we started dating because my career drives everyone away,” he managed out as his thumb brushed against your cheek. “But I love you, Y/N. I have from the second I first heard you laugh at one of my dumb jokes. I know I’ve got my problems and you’ll probably leave, but please, just-” he choked on his words, trying to ignore his heart pounding relentlessly in his chest as he dropped his hands to his sides, his eyes pleading for you to believe him. “Hold onto me.”

Your arms instantly wrapped around his neck, Michael taking no time to pull you flush against him as he felt your chest rise and fall at a painfully slow rate, his head resting in the crook of your neck before you pulled away and stared into the eyes that knew everything about you. “I’m so sorry, I was over reacting-”

“No,” Michael cut you off, wiping away the tears from under your eyes before kissing your forehead. “Your feelings are completely valid. Being away from you is by far the hardest thing I have to do, but we get through it. We only get stronger, baby.”

You gave him a small smile before reconnecting your lips, running your hands through his hair as Michael sighed in contentment, his hands grabbing your hips and pulling you as close as possible to him. “You’re the only person that’s worth it, you know,” you teased, poking Michael’s chest as he cracked a smile.

“That’s how I know you love me,” he replied, his lips brushing against yours as his eyes studied you. 

You hummed in response before kissing his cheek, squeezing him tightly before pulling away and grinning. Michael’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion at your sudden excitement, his attention entirely set on you as he waited for you to talk again. “We never finished that Pokemon episode the other night.”

“You’re right,” Michael gasped, reaching for his laptop as you repositioned yourself to cuddle against his side. “We have to find out if Gary loses.”

“Fucking Gary,” you mumbled, causing Michael to burst out into laughter as he nudged your side.

“I love you,” Michael blurted out, causing you to raise your eyebrows before playfully rolling your eyes, Michael’s eyes full of love as he grinned at you. “What?”

You'd gotten married two months before he left on tour and things were great. You were spending all of your time together when he wasn't at the studio, and for once in your relationship you felt like the most important thing in his life.

He was coming home tonight, and your stomach flipped when you realized that he was due back any second. You got up from the couch and went over to the bathroom, checking your appearance in the mirror and splashing some cold water on your face.

Just as you heard keys in the door.

You heard Luke sigh as he closed the door behind him, kicking his luggage into your apartment before calling out for you. "(Y/N)?"   He walked further in, his shoes clunking against the floor as he went. "Babe? Are you home?"

"Yeah," you walked out of the bathroom, closing the door behind you.

"There's my girl," Luke sighed happily, walking over to you and wrapping you up in a tight hug. "I missed you."

You hugged him back, holding on to him tightly and taking a second to collect your thoughts before letting go. "I missed you, too." You stared at the floor before closing your eyes, giving yourself a pep talk in your head.

"Come on," Luke grabbed your hand and led you toward your bedroom, "let's go to bed. I'm exhausted and all I want to do is curl up next to you."

You started to follow him but stopped, letting your hand fall from his. He continued into the bedroom where he saw two large suitcases packed on your bed.

"What's all this?" He asked as you slowly trailed behind him.

When Luke turned to face you, you looked up at him and saw that he was staring back at you with concern in his eyes. His eyes were glued to yours, truly looking at you for the first time since he got home. "(Y/N), have you been crying?" He asked you, his eyebrows drawn together as he waited for an answer.

"Yeah, uh," you stalled, trying to think of what to say. "There's something we need to talk about."

"Okay," Luke nodded as he waited for you to go on.

"There is no easy way to say this, but I can't stay married to you."

"You what?" Luke asked, moving his hands to his hips. "Where is this even coming from?"

"Honestly, it's been a long time coming." You admitted, wanting to get the conversation over with. "I never should have agreed to marry you in the first place, Luke."

Luke let out a deep sigh, walking away from you before turning around and pacing back. "Why are you saying this? I don't understand. I thought you were happy, I don't know what's going on here."

You let him think out loud, unsure if he really wanted you to say anything.

"(Y/N)." When he said your name you looked up to find his blue eyes clouded over with confusion.

You took a deep breath before speaking. "What's going on, Luke, is that you were married before you met me. To your music."

You saw the realization in Luke's eyes as he swallowed hard, fighting the tears in his eyes. You’d had this talk so many times before, and every time it had the same outcome. "That's not fair," he defended, shaking his head at you. "That's not true and you know it."

"Are you really going to deny it?" You asked, trying not to be angry. "I don't want to fight with you, Luke. Things will be a hell of a lot easier if you just let it go.” Tears brimmed in your eyes and you cleared your throat, trying to get your voice back. “Let me go."

"I can't do that," his voice was softer now and you looked him, watched the first tear slip from his eye before he quickly brushed it away. "I can't lose you. Tell me what I can do to make you stay."

You shook your head as you walked back into the living room, sitting down where you had been before. Luke followed you, sitting at the opposite end of the couch.

"There's nothing you can do. I'm not going to ask you to stop working. I wouldn't dream of doing that. You deserve all of your success and no one knows better than me how hard you've worked for it. What you've sacrificed."

"(Y/N) you don't have to do this." He begged, turning to face you.

"Luke you don't know what it's like!" You sighed, running your hands through your hair. "You don't know what it's like to watch the person you love prioritize everything else in the world before you. You don't know what it's like to wait up for a phone call, only to have it last two seconds before you have to go. I know how badly you wanted to prove everyone wrong when we got married, but you’re wearing yourself out. I want to be with you, but right now it seems like too much for you to juggle."

"Wow," Luke wiped his face again before getting up. "I wish you would've told me all of this before vowing to love me forever."

"Do you really think I don't love you?" You asked, unable to keep your voice down. "I love you so much that I’m willing to let you be free and live your life! That doesn't mean that I have to keep putting myself through this torture!"

"Torture?" Luke scoffed, "Is that what being married to me is like?"

"No," you shook your head, "being married to you is like being able to spend the rest of my life with my best friend. It's like living out every good dream I ever had."

"Then how could you give us up?" He asked you, his tone softening into something heartbreaking. "If this is your dream?"

"Because," you shrugged, taking off your rings and closing your hand around them. "My dream is keeping you from living yours." You held the rings out for him, and he stared at them in your hand before walking over to you and taking them. He held onto your hand for a moment before pulling you into a hug and wrapping his arms tightly around you.

"I'm sorry, (Y/N)," he said, his apology was barely audible as it was muffled between your bodies. "I do love you, though. So much."

Michael’s attention snapped back when the door opened from behind the rows of guests and Ashton smiled brightly with one of your best friends on his arm. Your fiancé watched as each couple proceeded to the end of the aisle and up the steps to join him. He swore he nearly threw up as the tradition wedding theme song sounded throughout the place and all the guests rose and faced the back. However, Michael knew, as soon as his eyes caught yours all the way down the aisle, that everything was gonna be fine. That without a doubt, the one slowly walking towards him was his forever.

Michael beamed as your dad handed you off and tightly clutched your sweaty hand in his equally as wet ones. He barely registered what your uncle was saying, only focusing on not bursting out laughing because he’d never felt this happy before and he wasn’t quite sure how to contain his excitement, nor stop tears from slipping down his face. He’s quite literally shining as you both turned to face each other to read your vows, Michael’s as heart-wrenching and tear-jerking as you expected his to be and yours having the same effect on him. 

It’s nearing the end of the ceremony, when Calum hands you both your rings for each other, that Michael fucking loses it. You’re reaching towards his hand as you’re repeating the typical ‘till death do us part’ speech when he sees it.

“Are you–” he interrupts your uncle, confusion apparent in the audience’s face, “Did you–Is–What–” he struggled to get the words out, but you knew what he was talking about.

WIth a gentle smile, you raised you left arm to he could clearly see the “and back” cursive script tattooed into your skin. 

“Oh my god, I fucking love you,” he breathed, his admission causing a ripple of fond laughter to sound through the venue as the microphones had picked it up. “Oh my god,” he repeated, stepping closer to inspect it and run his fingers over the slightly raised skin, a realization dawning on the crowd as they realized what happened. Distantly, you heard his mom blow her nose obnoxiously into a tissue.

Even when your uncle cleared his throat and Michael stepped back, he still stared at you with a look of awe twinkling in his watery eyes, accepting his ring and enthusiastically pushing your onto your waiting finger as he was prompted to do so.

Eagerly, after being “officially pronounced husband and wife,” Michael swept you into a kiss that left you breathless, hoots and hollers echoing from all the groom and bridal party. 

“I love you Mrs. Clifford,” Michael mumbled into your lips as he pulled away from his first kiss as your husband.

“To the moon and back,” you promised.

It started off as a harmless banter about which show to watch, but Luke’s stubborn insistence to begin the seventh season of How I Met Your Mother very rapidly sparkled your fuse. Luke’s blatant dismissal of your emotions with an eye roll and a condescending “Y/N…” was the oxygen blown into the beginning flames, causing your temper to erupt into a full-blown fire.

“You never listen to what i have to say!” you accused, jabbing a finger at your fiancé across the room as he seethed, tugging his roots and sighing loudly.

“Of course I do!” Luke retorted, his posture large and demanding as he thrust his shoulder forward and exasperatedly gestured with his arms. “I always listen and then we comprom–”

“No you don’t!” you screamed, not even caring that you’d broken a rule set very early in the beginning of your relationship; never interrupt the person who’s talking when arguing. “You don’t fucking care!” you sobbed, your frustration at the entire day and draining events of the past month leaking out of your eyes rapidly. You could tell the atmosphere in the room had shifted but you were too exhausted to acknowledge it. “You can sleep in the spare bedroom tonight.”

“Baby–”

You held up your hand and silenced him as you stared at your feet walking up the stairs, anxiety eating at your nerves as you thought of every thing that had gone wrong during the day. You knew, in retrospect, that both of your families were just trying to make you guys as happy as possible. You knew, without a doubt, the Liz absolutely adored you and couldn’t wait to officially be your mother in law. And you also knew Luke had meant no harm in adamantly suggesting How I Met Your Mother. But still, everything piled on top of each other on top of the fact that you were promising your commitment in front of all of your friends and family in less than two days… well, you’re cup had runneth over.

Sighing as you settled into your bed after completing your nightly routine, your dog, a beagle mix, hopped onto the bed and snuggled right up to your side. He whined until your hand came to pet him, his satisfied grunts bringing a small smile to your lips. You decided after a few minutes of empty silence to simply go to sleep, turning out the lights and burrowing yourself under the comforter while unconsciously shifting to Luke’s side of the bed, his smell comforting and calming. Just as you were drifting into a light slumber, your dog’s thumping tail against your body woke you up again.

“Baby?” Luke’s whisper sounded through the air, your sigh your only response. He took it as an okay to move further into the room since you weren’t verbally protesting it. “Can we talk?”

“Mm,” you mumbled into his pillow, a smile flitting across his face as you laid sprawled out across his side before it slowly slid off.

“Darling,” he tried again, prompting you to slowly raise your torso from the bed and rub tiredly at your eyes. Patting at the space next to you, you invited Luke to your side. Immediately, he climbed onto the bed and wrapped his legs around your hips, his large frame covering yours completely as he enveloped you in his arms. You knew that this was one of his absolute favorite positions to sit in, but he only really initiated it when he was sad.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered, your voice hoarse.

He nodded into your skin and pressed a gentle kiss to your neck. “I know.” He sighed, the huge gust of warm air causing goosebumps to ripple across your torso. “I couldn’t stand not sleeping with you tonight, knowing tomorrow night we won’t be sleeping together, too.”

Your heart sunk at that, tears filling the corners of your eyes as you realized you’d completely forgotten you’d be spending the night at the hotel with your bridesmaids and he’d be at his parent’s house, both of you complying to the whole ‘the groom can’t see the bride before the wedding day’ or something. “I’m sorry,” you mumbled again, the crack in your voice causing Luke to raise his head from the position he’d had it resting against your shoulder to your face.

“Baby,” he cooed, coaxing you out of the cover and gently pulling you to straddle his lap. “Come on, baby, don’t cry.” He pulled you into his body, causing yours to loosen and relax into the crevices of his as you just let everything out, babbling about everything that had frustrated you. Your fiancé made affirmative noises when necessary as his hands continued stroking your hair.

However, his calming movements froze when you muttered, “I don’t know, it just seems like everyone’s making too much of a big deal.”

“But…” he bit his lip, “Didn’t you want this? I mean, you– you still wanna get married right?”

“Yeah-yes! Of course!” you reassured him, hurt that he even suggested that but seeing why he did nonetheless. “It’s just… this marriage is between you and I. I don’t like that everyone’s fussing and freaking out about it so much.”

Luke nodded but still had an apprehensive expression spread across his face. “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”

You shrugged, your face burning as you stared into your lap and you settled your butt onto Luke’s thighs. 

“Baby,” he pleaded, “You’ve have to tell me these things, okay?” Luke grasped your chin in both of his hands and straightened his torso so his face was level with yours. “We’re never gonna work if we don’t communicate; you’ve gotta let me in, hon… I mean, for godsakes,” he added with a nervous chuckle, “We’re promising forever in two days, I would think it would be pretty safe to trust me.”

You nodded, your eyes finally meeting his, his fingers delicately tracing your in a soft back and forth motion. 

“In the end, it’s just you and me, okay? Just you and me.” Gently, Luke pressed his lips into yours and you felt his eyelashes fluttering against your cheeks. Pulling away and pecking them again with tiny, barely-there kisses, Luke’s face broke into a grin when you giggled at his actions. 

“’re we good?” he asked, his forehead, resting against yours.

“Mhm,” you hummed contentedly, letting yourself be positioned by Luke so that you were laying in a spooning position with him behind you and the dog in front of you, falling asleep with a smile on your lips as your fiancé murmured, “Can’t wait to be yours forever, baby…”