"Are you sure you do not mind? I feel bad asking you to do this,"

"No, don't worry about it, it's really no trouble at all."

Luke was standing behind the bar counter, dressed in the bartenders uniform—all black. He wore his old black jeans that he hadn't worn since Michael had built the VIP bar. Michael had told him if they were going to cater to the rich and classy, he had to look classy, which meant Luke wasn't allowed to wear his comfy clothes anymore. His band tees were replaced with polos and button-ups and the ripped jeans became slacks. He liked those clothes well enough, but there was something refreshing about being able to slip back into the outfit he really liked that made him feel warm inside.

With the black jeans, he also wore a long sleeve black shirt—long sleeves because Michael had created some bruises on his upper arm when he grabbed him the other day—so Luke was going to be wearing long shirts for the next few days to cover the marks. A bruise could be from anything, but these fingerprint marks were very obvious, and Luke was embarrassed to tell anyone about the situation. He was worried they would think the same thing about him that Michael did. Michael knew him the best out of everyone and he thought Luke was a little slut. What would someone who didn't know anything about his character think? It was his own fault anyway.

"Well, just know that I really appreciate you for this," Naba told him.

Tonight was Harry's night off, he had a family thing in New Jersey to attend to, so he wasn't able to come in and the two guys who were subbing for him got sick. Luke and Michael were at the bar getting things ready when Naba told them about the situation. Luke immediately offered to help, because there wasn't much else they could do and he wanted to prove he was still useful. He wasn't just a burden. He wasn't.

He and Naba cut up lemons, limes, and oranges for the different cocktails while Luke filled her in on what was happening at the theater. Michael sat at the end of the bar on hold with one of their suppliers who hadn't brought the latest shipment of dry goods yet. It was supposed to be delivered yesterday, but they hadn't heard anything about it yet. Luke caught Michael's eye as he walked past and Michael gave him a tense nod. He knew his boyfriend was stressed, but at least he didn't seem too angry at the moment.

The bar opened and slowly but surely, people started flowing in. Michael had to step out for a little bit, telling Naba, not Luke, and not giving a reason. Luke didn't mind, because there was less pressure when he wasn't around. He knew it wasn't good, but he felt like he could relax without being under his scrutiny.

It was slow for the first couple hours, but around 7 it started picking up and Luke realized how involved bartending actually was. He figured it would be pretty easy, but remembering what everyone wanted, putting it in the system, making the drinks, having someone take his attention away when he was about to do something but making sure he didn't forget what he'd previously been doing... it was an endless, tiring cycle, but he kind of was enjoying himself. He and Naba were able to laugh with the customers who told funny stories, and he felt like he was doing something to actually help. While being on Broadway was his dream, it wasn't useful to anyone aside from entertainment. At least while he was filling drink orders, he was helping out Naba and Michael. It was a win-win.

Around 9, a couple people had left and it was a bit slower. Luke decided to wipe down the counter while there were no orders he needed to fill.

"So, how's your night going?" One of the customers he'd served earlier asked. Luke looked up at the man. He seemed to be about 40, maybe a bit older. He had ginger hair, a round face, and green eyes. He smiled at Luke like they'd been friends for a while, which put Luke at ease. He just seemed like a nice guy, and had acted kindly when Luke was taking his order earlier. Some people were rude, but this man didn't put off any bad vibes.

"Pretty good, thanks for asking." Luke stopped in front of him, noticing the man next to him also looking up at him and smiling. The man on the left was dark: dark hair, dark brown eyes, a deep tan that gave his skin a caramel color, and a dazzling smile. Both of them seemed a bit older than him, but were very nice looking.

"What's your name?" Dark hair asked.

"I'm Luke." He said.

"Nice to meet you, Luke." The red head said. "I'm Caelan, this is Kevin."

"Glad to have you here," Luke continued wiping the bar down, but Caelan got his attention. "Do you need anything?"

"Not really, I was just wondering why we've never seen you here before, we surely would have noticed someone as cute as you,"

Luke blushed at his words but ignored the comment.

"I'm not the usual bartender, I'm just filling in for sick employees."

"Oh, I see."

Luke nodded, about to walk away again when Kevin started talking to him.

"So what do you do usually if you're just filling in tonight?" Kevin took a sip from the straw in his drink as he leaned his elbows against the counter. He looked Luke up and down before making eye contact.

"I've just recently landed a role in a new Broadway show," Luke said meekly, trying to make it sound like he wasn't bragging or too famous.

"Wow, that's amazing! You're an actor?"

"I mean, not yet technically, I've been in a couple small shows before, but nothing of this magnitude."

"So what's your show about then?" Caelan asked, leaning forward so he could watch Luke.

He explained a bit about it, but didn't want to go into too many details because he wasn't really supposed to share too much.

"That's interesting." Luke enjoyed the way they genuinely seemed to want to listen to him. Michael never gave him his full attention like these two were doing. It felt good, especially since he'd been feeling so bad lately, and he didn't want it to stop. "What other things do you do, Luke?"

Luke shrugged.

"I don't really. Working here takes up the time in my life that rehearsal doesn't. I don't have any other hobbies or anything." That was true. His life outside the theater and the bar didn't exist. He didn't need anything else though, because he had his friends and his partner, and that was enough. "What about you guys? Do you know each other?"

"Oh, yeah. We know each other real well." Kevin winked at Caelan who smiled. "We've known each other forever, been friends since childhood."

"Aw, well that's nice. I don't really talk to any of my childhood friends anymore. My only real friends are these couple guys I met on an audition once,"

Luke felt comfortable talking to these two, which was sort of unusual for him. They were just being so understanding and really seemed interested in him.

"Luke, you doing okay?" Naba asked. She generally kept to one side of the bar and whoever she worked with kept to the other, but she figured she'd check in on Luke when she saw he was stuck with two guys for a while. He looked fine, actually, he looked much more relaxed than usual, but she just wanted to make sure nothing bad was happening.

"Yeah, everything is great," he smiled happily, continuing to wipe down the counter and she walked away. He could handle himself, she thought.

"You know what?" Caelan looked at Luke, who shrugged. "I just wanted to know, are you a camera?" Luke tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Because every time I look at you, I smile." He showed off a bright, toothy grin which made Luke giggle.

"That's kinda cheesy,"

"But it made you laugh," he pointed out to which Luke hummed in agreement. One of the other customers asked for a refill which he happily went and took care of, but he found himself drawn back to the two guys who'd been talking to him.

They were talking about something when Luke made his way back over, casually pretending like he needed to be standing in front of them.

"No, Caelan, I'm not sure if there's that many stars out tonight," Kevin frowned, glancing at Luke, "Because he's over here shining like one."

Luke's face heated up in a blush as he kept walking, not wanting to stand around and wait for more compliments. It was almost like they were flirting with him, but he couldn't let them do that, he had a boyfriend. He was a little embarrassed how long it took him to realize what they were doing, (he thought they were just friendly at first) but now that it was even more obvious, he'd have to put a stop to it. It would not go over well if a certain someone found out that was happening.

Kevin called Luke over to get him a drink and smiled at him.

"Here's your drink," Luke said, setting the full mug of beer in front of him.

"Damn, I should call you Google because you've got everything I need," he smirked.

Luke smiled uneasily.

"Yes, well I also have a boyfriend, so..." Kevin just shrugged.

"That's cool, then I'm sure you're used to being told you're the most beautiful man in the room, then." He said like it was the most obvious thing ever.

Luke blushed. Michael hadn't told him he was beautiful in a long time. In fact, recently he hadn't gotten any sort of complement from him.

Michael told him he loved him in different ways though, so it didn't matter. It didn't always have to look like compliments and mushy feelings and over the top flirting. That's what he kept telling himself.

"Seriously, Luke, there isn't a word in the dictionary to describe how jaw-droppingly gorgeous you are," Caelan commented. They knew they didn't have a shot with him, but they both did enjoy how flustered and cute he got when they gave him a compliment.

"Are you two just walking pickup lines? I don't think there's a thing you've said to me in the last ten minutes that wasn't a line."

Kevin shrugged.

"What can we say, usually it works."

"Can you tell us which one you thought was the best? If we're going to keep doing this and you're taken, you could at least tell us which ones might work for someone else," Caelan proposed.

"Sure," Luke grinned. "I did like the star one, but I think I need more data to work with. Hit me with your best shot."

So Luke's new friends spent the rest of the evening fake-flirting with him, attempting lines to pick him up.

It left all three men in stitches most of the night. Luke would walk past them to fill someone's order and they'd feed him another line, which he would just laugh at, roll his eyes, or blush, depending on the line.

"I'm not a hoarder, but I want to keep you forever,"

"4/10," Luke snorted as he walked past.

"Most people like to watch the Superbowl 'cuz it only happens once a year, but I'd rather talk to you cause the chance of meeting someone like you only happens once in a lifetime."

"Creative. 7.5." Luke took the pitcher of water and filled the glass of the girl sitting a couple seats down before walking back to his friends.

"Do you have a band aid? Cause I scraped my knees falling for you."

"No, terrible. Redo."

"Aw, you don't like that at all?" Caelan clutched a hand to his wounded heart.

"That sucked! I'm giving you a chance at redemption," Luke giggled, leaning against the counter as he looked at the red haired man in front of him. "Impress me,"

"Want to know how I got these guns?" Calean pointed to his rather large biceps, leaning down to kiss one. Luke raised his eyebrows. "Lifting children out of poverty."

Luke blinked twice before he and Kevin both burst out laughing.

"What the fuck? That was the absolute worst thing I've ever heard in my life!" Luke could barely breathe he was laughing so hard, and Caelan was just smirking. He crossed his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, but it made you laugh,"

"Whatever. If you ever use that line on a guy, I swear I'm going to find you and haunt you for the rest of your life,"

Calean rolled his eyes.

"Kev, your turn. Make the little cutie blush."

"Hm..." Kevin racked his brain for another line. "Okay, okay, here's one of my favorites, are you ready?" Luke's eyes lit up as he nodded, directing his attention to the other man. "Okay, but first I need to go for a walk," he stood up, then held his hand out to Luke. "Can you hold this for me?" Luke's eyes widened as he grabbed the hand over the counter almost against his will, it was just reflexive.

"Okay, that was good," Luke nodded, still holding the mans hand. "I really like that one. Best one of the night." Kevin grinned.

"What the FUCK is going on here?" Michael's voice boomed across the room. Why was Luke holding a random dudes hand?

He'd gotten back a couple minutes ago and seen Luke laughing and talking with two men at the bar. The second one of them took Luke's hand, he lost it.

"M-Michael, I'm just--we were--"

"We were flirting with him to figure out the best pic--"

"YOU DID WHAT?" Michael bolted across the room and over to Caelan, his hand thrusting forward and before anyone knew what happened, he'd punched him in the nose. "Get the fuck out of my bar, you pieces of trash! No one flirts with my boyfriend and gets away with it,"

"Mikey! D-don't," Luke rushed around the bar to pull Michael off of the man. Michael shook him off, almost grazing Luke's cheek with his elbow. Luke staggered back like he had been hit and leaned against one of the barstools that had been emptied when the fight began. No one noticed, keeping their attention on the brawl beginning in front of them. A couple people who'd been sitting at the bar moved away so they weren't in the hit zone.

"What makes you think you can do things like this to people?" Michael seethed, pulling his arm back despite Naba's efforts to keep him away, ready to punch again. She had come around the bar after Michael threw the first punch.

"Hey," A deep voice rumbled, shocking everyone in the vicinity. Michael stopped, the other two men looked at Ashton, slight fear in their eyes. "What's going on?"

"This clown is flirting with my boyfriend," Michael glared at the red head who was holding his face. Kevin was next to him, brushing his fingers over his partners lip, trying to assess the damage. "I stopped him."

"Mike, you know you can't do shit like that," Ashton gave him a disappointed look. He turned his back on the man Michael had hit in order to reprimand his friend, but the second Ashton looked away, Kevin decided he needed redemption for his partner, and ducked around him to punch Michael. Michael had seen him coming, and grabbed the shorter mans shoulders, pushing him to the ground and straddling him.

Ashton sighed and hooked his arms around Micahel's shoulders, heaving him off the customer and shoving him away.

"Get in your office and let me clean up this mess. You're in no state to be dealing with this," Ashton snapped at him, fixing his rumpled jacket that had gotten messy when he had to restrain Michael.

"Just make sure those sons of bitches know they're banned." He looked over at the beaten and bleeding men. "You're never allowed back here," Michael warned them as he retreated away to his office.

Ashton shook his head as he looked over the mess Michael had created. He was used to cleaning up his friends messes, but it had been a long time since he'd needed to. The guys he'd beaten up were helping each other assess their wounds, Ashton knew they were fine and didn't require any severe attention. He hoped they wouldn't want to press any charges, but he'd help Michael sort that out if they did. The rest of the customers were slowly going back to their own business, Naba was shaking her head at Ashton in a 'what can you do' gesture, Luke was curled up in a ball under the bar, the person on his left--

"Luke, are you okay?"

Ashton's voice rang out loudly, attracting everyone's attention again as he rushed over to him. Michael hadn't yet gotten inside his office, so he looked over too and found his boyfriend huddled underneath the bar.

He rolled his eyes, walking over and watching Ashton make a fuss over him.

"Let's go home." Michael said flatly, not knowing what sort of issue there was now, but it needed to stop.

"Mike, I think he's in shock." Ashton told him, crouching next to Luke and putting an arm around him. Michael grit his teeth. "Why don't you let him rest in your office, you two can talk things out, I can get him some water or something--"

Michael cut Ashton off, upset that he was trying to tell Michael what to do with his boyfriend.

"No, I said we're going home. I know what's best for him, let's go, Luke."

Luke looked up at his name, looking around the room in confusion as he wondered what was going on. Ashton reached over to help him up, but all Luke saw was a hand flying toward his face and whimpered, curling up into himself more.

"Luke, it's okay," Michael said gently. He shooed Ashton away and helped Luke get up on his feet. "Let's go home, baby. I know those assholes really scared you," Michael ran his fingers over Luke's cheek, and the blonde flinched, still looking nervous. No one else noticed this, except Ashton.

"Naba, are you--"

"Yes, go. Take care of Lukey, okay? He needs you," Naba nodded.

"Great, have you called security?" He asked just as two men in suits burst into the room. Naba nodded toward Kevin and Caelan and security removed them from the premise swiftly.

"I'll sort out everything else here," Ashton told Michael as he ran a critical eye over Luke. He thought it was interesting how Luke had been so reluctant to find comfort in Michael, but then it seemed the poor boy was so exhausted he was leaning against Michael or else he would topple over.

Michael sent a text to Adam as they walked down the stairs and outside to the car. It was waiting for them and Michael shoved Luke inside, none too gently.

"You're gonna get it when we get home," He whispered in Luke's ear as Luke leaned against his shoulder.

***

Poor Lukey. 😢 he just wanted to laugh with new friends.

What do you think about what's going on? Should Luke have put a stop to it? Should Michael have been upset?

~ashtonfortherwin