Everything Unsaid
Summary: Luke Patterson likes to hyperfixate on writing songs, and so does Luke Hemmings.
Word Count: almost 900 (minus lyrics)
Warnings/Includes: one curse word, mentions of overworking
A/N: this is for @jatpx5sos week day 2! the prompt is parallels, so i paralleled two things- the luke’s and everything i didn’t say/unsaid emily (everything’s lyrics a bolded, unsaid’s are bold and italised)
Mandatory Thanking of the Betas: thank you guys so so much, the amount of typos this would have is insane omg
AO3 link here (it’ll be up eventually, sorry bout that!)
Please don’t repost my work without my permission, in part or whole. My work can also be found on AO3 under the same username. Thank you!
I should have turned around
Pieces of a clock that lies broken
“Patterson! What’s in the head of yours?” Bobby asked as he walked by the boy. Luke lazily strummed his guitar, just staring at the lyrics on the page.
“Luke?” Reggie asked, waving his hands in front of Luke’s face. “What’s wrong?”
As he looked up, Reggie and Bobby could see the tears in Luke’s eyes. “I-” He let out a soft hiccup. “I never got to say goodbye, I just left! I should have said sorry,” And if it was possible, he hung his head lower, and mumbled something.
“What?” Bobby asked, lowering himself to the brunette's height.
“I should have put her first. I put me first, and that was selfish,” He said, finally bringing his eyes to Bobby’s.
“Okay, no moping,” Alex said, finally entering the garage. “Let’s practice, and then mope. Cause in case you’ve forgotten, our gig at the speakeasy is in a week. There will be a lot of important people there, you’ve been getting on us about that Luke.”
“I’m sorry,” Luke said, rising from his chair.
“I get it, man,” Alex said, and the pair had a brief unspoken conversation. Bobby cleared his throat and the two looked away.
“Let’s practice!” Reggie said, breaking the uneasy silence as he picked up his guitar.
I wish that I'd put you first
I was wrong I admit, numb from your kiss
While you were slipping through my fingertips
“Slipping through my, what was that stupid lyric I came up with earlier?” Luke whispered to himself. A line that had flowed so easily when he hadn’t had a pen and paper to write it down with was now gone, lost, to wherever lost thoughts go.
“You are obsessed with this song!” Micheal shouted across the living room. He wasn’t wrong, Luke had been working on this song for almost a week now, and nothing else.
“You get obsessed with everything you write Mike, that’s almost a compliment,” Luke retorted and Mike scoffed.
“He’s got a point Luke,” Ashton said, coming beside Luke. Always the voice of reason, that was Ashton. “Ever since-” Luke cleared his throat and looked away. It hurt to talk about that night. “My point is, you have to eat and sleep, and maybe take a walk. This isn’t good for you.” He got up and started to walk to the kitchen. “Besides, didn’t she break up with you?”
“It was my fault, I should have put her first instead of the band. We aren’t gonna get anywhere anyways.”
“Stop thinking like that!” Calum said, entering the room at last. “We’ve got a gig coming up!” Luke playfully punched him.
“Are you dumb? It’s a book club!” He said, standing up and walking away.
“Where are you going dude?” Micheal hollered after him.
“I’m gonna go on a walk and clear my head.” Luke paused, looking down at his fingers. “Well, that was stupid.” He muttered at last.
And write in every empty space
The words I love you in replace
Then maybe time would not erase me
“Luke what do you think about taking a break? We’ve been practicing for two hours,” Bobby pointed out. Luke looked at his watch and sighed.
“Order pizza and keep working till it gets here?” He suggested, looking to the boys with hopeful faces. The three shared a look.
They knew he was overworking himself. Drilling this song until it was perfect, staying up late, and not focusing on himself. It had taken a toll, a clear and obvious one. But the pain of his choice, his decisions, and the event of an argument that none of them were all to sure of.
“Okay,” Alex said at last.
“I’ll go talk to Rose, and I’m sure she can lend us some money until our next gig,” Reggie said, ducking out of the garage leaving Alex, Bobby, and Luke sitting in silence.
Alex cleared his throat and the others turned to him. “I’ve gotta- uh, I need to let my mom know that I’ll be staying late. She asked me to start calling,” Alex dropped his drumsticks noisily and scrambled to pick them up. “S-sorry,” He said, retreating out slowly.
With all of the mistakes I've made
From all the letters that I've saved
This is everything I didn't say
I wish I could've made you stay
The tension could have been cut with a knife.
“What was up with that look you guys just shared?” Luke asked, looking over to Ashton.
He released a sigh, “The boys and I have been talking-”
“You haven’t been doing any talking! Unless you’ve learned how to do sign language with your eyes,” Luke retorted, getting closed to Ashton with every step. “What is it Ash? What have you been “talking” about?”
“Sit down,” Ashton said calmly, pointing to the chair behind Luke.
“What- Ash, I’m not a child,” Luke pleaded, preparing himself for the storm that was coming.
“Sit. The Fuck. Down.” Ashton said, with the force of a shout.
Luke sat down slowly, and Ashton sat with him.
“I’m sorry,” He whispered. Luke didn't say anything, he just placed his hand on Ashton’s back.
“What have your silent conversations been about?” Luke finally asked.
And that's just where they're gonna stay forever
“You need to perform this for her,” Bobby said. Luke’s had swiftly moved away from him.
“Why, Luke?” Bobby asked, confused at his friend's hesitancy. “You’ve been working on it for two months now and it sounds great. This is your chance to tell her everything!”
“Not yet,” Luke said again.
“Luke… You gotta tell her-”
“Not yet.” Luke said, standing up abruptly. “You can’t tell me to do anything.”
“I’m just trying to make it perfect, okay? Get off my case!” Luke said, slamming the garage door behind him.
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