°⁂ [ 𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒! ] ༄
-', ( lashton )
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
in which - two teenaged boys
sent to a mental institution find
comfort in one another 🥀 🚬
❝ blacking out in my room
...
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THE NEXT MORNING, as opposed to being woken up by Ashton as per usual, Luke was awoken by a tech. He looked around in confusion, finding Ashton's bed to be empty. Luke frowned, climbing out of bed and pulling on a crew neck before retreating out into the day room. He found Ashton sitting there, legs pulled to his chest with his head resting upon them, as his eyes stared ahead at the TV playing Luca. His favorite movie. His comfort movie that he only forced everyone to watch when he was past sad. When he was unrepairable.
Luke wanted more than anything to go talk to him — to comfort him — but he couldn't. He knew if he did, he would break. He would go right back to the same cycle as before with Ashton falling into a slump every other day and Luke being unable to help. For Ashton's sake and his own, Luke had to stay away, even if it felt impossible.
It wasn't long, though, before the others began to notice something wrong — more than just a usual sad spell. After Ashton refused to attend breakfast and begged to just sleep in his room (the newbie nurse was too green to bother fighting it), everyone turned to Luke for answers. Luke, however, was far too busy with getting ready to go home, because, yes, he'd been pulled aside and told that it was finally the day he'd be set free. He decided to focus on that rather than dwell on Ashton, because, honestly, there wasn't much he could do. He was going home, and Ashton? Ashton was going wherever the hell was decided for him. Ash didn't even have any say over his own life, so how possibly could Luke?
"Please, Luke, talk to him," Calum all but begged Luke as the blonde slipped on his laceless Vans and absentmindedly watched whatever was playing on the TV. He sighed at Cal's pleads, shaking his head and trying to fight the rising emotion within him, telling him to go hug Ash and assure him that everything would be okay.
"I can't, Cal. I'm leaving. This is for the best, okay?" Luke sighed at Cal's desperate expression, managing the smallest of smiles to the brown-eyed boy. "Look, I gave you my number. Whenever Ash gets out of long-term, give it to him. Tell him to call me because I'm not giving up on this. Not anytime soon. As long as he wants to fight, so do I."
And, with that, Luke stood up, finished with the conversation. He began to head back into his room to pack his belongings, something he'd been putting off until the very last second because God knows he wasn't ready to see Ashton. But, he had to eventually. He knew that. That is, of course, unless he wanted to leave without all of his precious belongings, including but not limited to his favorite Green Day hoodie (that happened to have no drawstrings) and his special edition My Chemical Romance concert crewneck that he'd leant to...
Ashton. Ashton was wearing the crewneck. Shit.
Luke cursed all that was good in life as he wandered back into his room, hoping to God that the shirt had miraculously found it's way back to his bed so he wouldn't have to go harass Ash for it. But, as luck would have it, there Ashton was, curled into a ball and hugging the sweatshirt he wore to his chest like it was his life raft.
