"You were a phonograph, I was a kid

I sat with an ear close, just listening

I was there when the rain tapped her way down your face

You were a miracle, I was just holdin your space"

✰

Luke's legs feel like dead weight as he walks down the hall of his apartment complex. He'd spent all day in the studio and it was rough transitioning from laid-back days in his hometown to working this album to death.

The day was rough- they were finishing up a song called Why Won't You Love Me and Luke had been putting it off for months because of how bad it hurt to write. It didn't sting as much now, knowing she was his girl again, but it didn't feel fuckin' nice either.

They'd decided the album would be named Youngblood and they had almost half of the songs finished, but there was still a long way to go.

Before, Luke used to love it when the album was getting closed to being done. After Arlo left him he hated being alone- he couldn't fucking stand it, in fact. When you release an album, there's not an ounce of free time left in your schedule and he used to revel in that.

Now, the last thing Luke wanted was for his life to speed up.

Obviously, the band's success was monumental and he was beyond proud of the work they'd done. But, finishing this album meant doing a promo tour full of interviews and then going on another tour, doing talk shows and photoshoots.

Luke was scared he wouldn't have any time to continue loving Arlo the way he wanted, the way she deserved.

If he had it his way, they'd take a few months off and spend some time in their hometown, healing, loving each other, whatever they needed. The few days back at home were the happiest he'd been in a while and for the first time in a long time, Luke felt like himself, not some rockstar.

That was a dream and Luke knew he had to focus on reality- not that it was too horrible in the first place.

Opening the door to his apartment, Luke is immediately greeted with the smell of food and soft music playing. It makes his heart thump in his chest, although he isn't too sure why.

Luke quietly walks further into the foyer, finding his record player spinning a vinyl record. A couple of other albums were laid out carefully on the table next to the record player and Luke had no doubt that Arlo had lined them up in order to play next, for that was such an Arlo thing to do.

He's careful not to make his presence known as he makes his way into the apartment's kitchen where he can hear her humming to herself. Luke's heart thuds in his chest at the feeling that was settling in his bones.

I want to come home to this every day for the rest of my life.

With the sun just having gone down and soft music playing throughout the room, the apartment suddenly felt more like home than it ever had. Luke used to hate this apartment, how cold it felt. But, Arlo had managed to completely flip the atmosphere with her warm presence and the little candles she'd developed a small addiction to lit on the counters.

The air is nearly knocked from his lungs when he sees her.

Arlo sits at the kitchen counter, curled up on one of the barstools with her knees tucked to her chest. She's wearing nothing but one of his silk shirts, her hair messily tied back as her eyes intently scan over the pages of the book in front of her.

Luke's eyes find a container of food on the counter, a small note beside it that he just knows has his name on it because Arlo was just thoughtful in that way. He feels so damn guilty that he hadn't been home early enough to eat the food she made with her, but he feels even more overwhelmed with the sight of her sitting in his kitchen like she belonged there.

I want to marry you. I'm going to marry you.

He can't stand not having her lips on his own any longer so Luke hastily makes his way over to his girl. Dropping his things in the foyer without a care, he loops his arms around her from behind, his head buried into the soft skin of her neck.

Arlo stiffens in surprise at first, but as soon as the smell of his cologne hits her senses, she relaxes instantly. "You're home." She smiles, her hand finding his hair.

Luke's heart skips at the simple words- home. "I am." He says lowly, kissing his way up her neck until he finds her lips. "Missed you, sweetheart."

Arlo feels giddy at his words, turning in her chair in order to face him fully. He looked tired, she noticed and it causes worry to bloom in her chest. He always worked too hard when they were younger and it seems that old habits never really die hard.

"I have a surprise for you." Arlo smiles, a certain mischievous glint in her eye that makes Luke's stomach turn in the best way.

"Oh yeah?" He asks, his eyes flicking down to her exposed skin from where his silk shirt falls off of her shoulder. His hands reach for the buttons on the front of the shirt, a smirk tugging at his lips. "Is this it?"

"Nope." Arlo rolls her eyes, dodging his touch as she slides out of the chair, and begins walking towards the bedroom, leaving Luke no choice but to follow, a groan leaving his lips.

Arlo glances over her shoulder, finding her boy tiredly trailing after her. She doesn't hesitate to pause and slip her hand in his own before continuing on down the hallway. Using her grip on his hand, she leads him over to sit down on the bed.

Luke watches her intently, his blue eyes following her every move as she makes her way over to her suitcase in the corner of the room and pulls out something he can't see before hiding it behind her back.

When she's standing in front of him again, Luke can't help the way his eyes trail over her body. "You're making me nervous, Lo." He says, a pout on his lips.

Arlo leans in, placing a kiss on his pouted lips as she sets down a familiar poetry book in his lap. Luke's lips seek her own, even after she's pulled away, but the sight of the book he hadn't seen in three years completely throws him for a loop.

"Is that..." Luke asks, although he could recognize the cover from anywhere. It was his favorite after all and he'd spent hours with his nose in-between the pages.

"Yeah." Arlo nods, taking her lip nervously between her teeth as she stands in front of him. It was intimidating, being slotted between his parted legs as he sat there with his arms bulging from his faded t-shirt and his eyes dark in the low lighting. "I uh... just look."

Arlo puts her hand over his own and together, they open the cover. Luke sucks in a breath at the sight before him- his old annotations still on the page, only now, hers intermingle with his jumble of words. His in blue ink and hers in red, their words tangle around the printed poems, creating a beautiful mess only they could read.

Luke flips through the pages in awe, his heart thudding so loud in his ears that he can't even hear the soft music playing through the house any longer. He pauses on a random page, his eyes immediately catching a few lines.

Arlo, I never believed in futures until I met you. I never thought I'd have one if I'm being honest. I always just focused on getting through the next day, never having any other plans for myself.

Now, I see a million different futures with you.

His fingertips run over her handwriting, much neater than his.

Luke, I never thought I wanted a future until you. I felt as though my life was already planned- but you... you're uncertainty in the best form. I like that I don't care about the future I'm supposed to have anymore.

I just want you.

I can't wait to live a million different futures with you. In this life and the next- I'll love you in a million different universes, in a million different lifetimes. I can't see a love like ours ending after this life.

Luke feels the corner of his eyes burning, causing him to blink rapidly as he looks up at her. "You... you mean all of this?" He asks in disbelief.

Arlo looks down at him shyly, her cheeks flushing as he looks down at her words like they were some undiscovered art. It wasn't anything special, just a couple of ramblings, but Luke seemed to think differently. "Of course I do."

"Fuck." Luke curses under his breath, setting the book aside with care before he reaches out for her, his fingertips curling around her waist. "I love you, Arlo. So goddamn much. This is the best thing anyone's ever done for me."

He loops his pointer finger under the dainty chain hanging from her neck, using the leverage to guide her to his lips gently. It's instant, how she manages to respond perfectly to him. A groan leaves his lips as she tangles her hands in his hair as she kisses him, the way he's sitting on the end of the bed giving her a slight height advantage for once.

"I love you." Arlo pulls away just long enough to say, although her words quickly turn into a gasp as Luke slips his hands under the fabric of his silk shirt she wears, making a home on her waist.

Luke tears his lips away from her own, a sincere look in his eyes. "Walking in that door a few minutes ago felt like coming home... seeing you here, making dinner in the kitchen, listening to my records, your clothes on the floor. I don't ever want to come home and not see you."

Arlo's cheeks heat just as they did when she was eighteen years old, shyly learning the way around his heart in that bookstore. "I wish I could." She answers, her own heart aching as his face falls.

"Why can't you?" Luke asks, taking his bottom lip nervously between her teeth.

Arlo frowns, her hands comfortingly cupping his jaw, pads of her thumbs running over his cheeks. "You're still on tour, I live in LA with Beck, you have your house in LA, once the albums done you'll be on tour again-"

"Fuck all of that." Luke shakes his head, tugging her impossibly closer. He rests his chin on her sternum, looking up at his girl with oceans of emotion in his blue eyes. "Just stay with me forever, please. Or I'll spend my entire life going wherever you do, I don't care. Either way. Just promise it's always gonna be you and me?"

"You and me." Arlo confirms instantly. "Always."

"We'll figure out the technical shit later." Luke says, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her to sit in his lap. She straddles his lap, her knees digging into the mattress on either side of his hips. Although, the position isn't sexual in the slightest. He just wants her as close as possible.

"Promise me one thing?" Arlo asks, staring lovingly down at her boy.

Luke runs his fingertips over the curve of her jaw, studying every inch of her skin as if he hasn't already memorized her. "Anything. You know I'd do anything for you."

"No matter how busy things get, no matter how many months at a time you're on tour, promise me we'll always find our way back to the bookstore. Even if it's only for a few hours, promise we'll never stop going back to the place where I fell in love with you." Arlo pleads, her thumb finding his parted bottom lip.

"I can do that." Luke says instantly. "I'll never be too busy to go back to the bookstore with you. Promise." He confirms, leaning in to claim her lips once more. He kisses her languidly, his lips barely moving against her own.

Arlo gasps into his mouth as his hands run up and down her bare back, then down to her thighs. All the while he's kissing her like he's confessing his love all over again. It was mind-numbing.

"Let me take you out tomorrow." Luke says suddenly.

Instantly, fear crawls into Arlo's veins. They were in New York City, a very public place. She wasn't embarrassed about having her name attached to Luke's, not in the slightest, but she was scared of what his management would say.

"What if people see us?" Arlo asks, her voice wavering as she watches Luke's face soften at the fear lacing her tone. "What will management say? You're about to release an album-"

"I don't give a fuck about anything but you." Luke cuts her off swiftly, hands drawing her closer in desperation. "Nobody is going to tell us we can't be together. Nobody is going to fucking touch you as long as I'm alive." He says sternly. "I'm not a scared kid anymore, Lo. I'm not going to let a bunch of corporate dickheads boss me around when I pay their bills."

He runs a hand soothingly through her hair, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Where's this coming from, baby? Management loves you. Don't you remember how they used to bring you coffee and shit whenever you came to our meetings? Hell, Matt asked where you were for months."

"What about James?" Arlo blurts before she can stop herself, though once she sees the way his brows furrow, she quickly adds on something else. "And the rest of your team that hasn't met me?"

Luke had alarm bells going off in his head, but he ignores them for now. He always got ahead of himself when it came to Arlo and he didn't want to stress her out anymore than she seemed to already be. "If they have a problem they can talk to me and I'll tell them that they're temporary and you're not. You're a permanent part of my life and they're going to have to fucking accept that."

Arlo sucks in a breath, a weight lifting off her shoulders as she lays her head on Luke's chest. He tightens his arms around her, fingertips tracing her skin. "How does a picnic in the park sound?"

She practically sinks into his arms, feeling safer than she had in a long time. "Perfect."