As Normal As Can Be || one-sided lashton

four

'I just think that you handle these situations much better than I do', Michael sighed with his face in his hands, 'All I do is make things worse, because I just don't understand.'

'You've been going through this with him for the past weeks, and I know Luke is thankful for that. You need to give yourself some credit for that', Ashton told his frustrated friend, 'You can't always be right with everything and we'll learn as we go.'

'It's easy for you to say that. You seem to handle this stuff with ease.'

'I really don't', Ashton admitted, 'but sometimes there's this feeling I get when all goes south.'
Ashton shook his head slightly, his eyes on the ground. He wasn't sure if he understood his own words right now, but if was true.

'Like what?', Calum asked, jokingly adding, 'A connection between you two?'
But Ashton nodded, 'Yeah.'
No one dared to say anything until Luke entered the room.
The blonde seemed to beam with happiness until he saw his friend's faces. With his smile faltering, ue realized that he had heard his bandmates talk before he entered the room. They hadn't stopped right when he entered, but maybe they had heard him. Maybe he was interrupting some sort of conversation he wasn't supposed to witness.

'I forgot something', Luke excused himself, 'I'll be right back.'
He rushed out of the room, his stomach heavy with fear, making him sick.

'So', Calum was the first one to speak up, 'Does your connection tell you anything now?'
Ashton shook his head with a sigh, 'Not how it works.'

'I think I read something', Michael announced from where he was sitting, 'It's called splitting I think. Not sure if it applies here, but it means a rapid change of emotion due to a trigger.'

'Read that too', Calum nodded, 'but that's more for a specific person. Like when we cornered him last week? When he started yelling at you so badly.'
Michael looked confused, so Calum continued, 'Basically it's being only able to think black or white. You were a negative trigger, so he split on you and could only feel hate. It's either hate or love if that makes it easier.'
The guitarist nodded.

'Crazy how he can just come back from that.'

'It is. Must be exhausting, though. Imagine either loving or hating someone based on a minor thing they say or do.'
As much as they talked about it, none of them really had an idea of how exhausting it really was. Right now though, that wasn't the problem for Luke. The problem was how strongly the mood of others affected him.

'Luke, are you in there?'
Ashton had dared to look for Luke, ending up in front of the lead singer's door.
The door opened, revealing a seemingly unbothered Luke.

'Didn't you mean to come back?', Ashton questioned when he saw the TV playing in the back.

'Yeah, yeah sure', Luke said, stepping aside so Ashton could enter.

'I just thought you guys needed some time and figured I could use some too.' Luke smiled sincerely, a little too sincere.

His head tilted to the side, Ashton poked Luke's side.
'Not the truth', he mumbled, poking the blonde again and again.
He repeated poking Luke until the blonde was laying breathless on his bed, his stomach hurting from laughing and wiggling so much.

'It is the truth, Ash!'

'Promise?'

'Yes, absolutely', Luke laughed, sitting up.

'It did hurt, because I saw how I wasn't supposed to walk in, but-', Luke explained, his smile faltering as his own words sunk in. Then, tears welled up in his eyes and he turned away from his friend.

'Lu, no. Don't cry please. We were waiting for you', Ashton told his mate, carefully turning him around.

'We talked about you, but only to understand you better. We care so much about you, there's almost nothing more important to talk about', Ashton continued and Luke's lip began to shiver.

'Can I have a hug?', Luke asked and Ashton nodded, 'Of course.'
The blonde basically jumped into the hug, tears rolling down his cheeks as he felt the overwhelming warmth spread in his stomach. It was so strong, it made him dizzy. They cared so much about him, they loved him. There was no need to worry at all.

'I love you', Luke mumbled and Ashton repeated his words, though meaning a different love. It didn't matter. Luke was on cloud nine and flying as high as he did, there was always a long way down. Not right now though, not in Ashton's arms.

'Should we go back? There's a soundcheck we need to attend in an hour', the drummer remembered and as the lead singer, Luke naturally agreed.

Twenty minutes later, the boys got into a van that would bring them to the venue they would be performing on that night.
Together with some of their crew members, the space was limited. Luke didn't mind how Ashton's leg kept brushing against his and how the drummer accidentally put his hand on Luke's thigh when they took that one curve.

'Out with you', the driver laughed when they arrived and everyone stumbled out of the vehicle.
Luke made sure to keep his distance to Ashton, but if their hands touched as they walked through the hallways backstage, he didn't complain.