Needy (Lashton) (AU)

Chapter 9

"Mummy," Luke whined against his pillow as Liz shook him awake.

It had been two days since Luke's father had hit him, and Liz had been acting a lot nicer. It had also been two days Luke had went to school, or left the house, or just communicated with anyone in general. His phone remained the same place on the floor, only now it was dead, and Ashton had thought Luke was as well.

Ashton knew where Luke lived, so he could always just drop by to see if he was okay, but that didn't seem like a smart idea. Ashton didn't want to invade, Luke didn't know Ashton had heard the conversation between him and his mother, and Ashton was fully aware of that. Besides, he was just hoping Luke was okay.

"C-can I stay home again?" Luke asked hopefully, it was Friday now, so there was really no point in him going.

Liz pushed Luke's hair out of his face that was covering his still bruised eye. She held her breath, then let out a sigh, "One more day Luke, and if Dad comes home when I'm at work just- climb out the window- no- just leave somehow if he comes back, or call me, okay?" Liz said, making Luke frown.

He didn't like the idea of climbing out the window, he didn't want to be scared of his father. A part of him wishes he was bigger and stronger, so he could protect his mother and not have to worry, but that wasn't realistic. Luke just nodded, if his father were to come home he would most likely just hide under his bed in fear.

"And take a shower honey, your hair is getting nasty," Liz said with a laugh, in which Luke copied, "Goodbye."

Luke waited until he had heard her car start and drive off before he pulled himself out of bed. As much as he'd like to just lay in bed all day, his mom was right, he needed to shower.

The blond rubbed his eyes tiredly, but winced when his fingers came in contact with the slightly faded bruise. He shook his head, trying hard not to think about what had happened. Luke exhaled before grabbing some clothes, his phone and charger an heading towards the bathroom.

Luke had forgotten that he was on the phone with Ashton, he had just assumed that his phone was on the ground because he was clumsy and dropped it. If he had known that Ashton heard everything, he would have called him back instantly and made up some bullshit lie about how all the yelling was the tv- or something even more bizarre. He didn't want Ashton to know about his family issues.

It was already bad enough that Ashton knew about Jack's cancer; that was confidential information that Luke hated telling people about. And if he would have thought about his words before he said them, Ashton would still not know about it. But surprisingly, Luke just shrugged it off. Ashton didn't seem to make a big deal about the fact that his brother had cancer.

The blond stood waiting for his phone to turn on after he had plugged it in, he wanted to listen to music in the shower. A large shadow cast over the hallway wall making Luke jump and cower.

"Luke?" The voice called out, making the blond sigh in relief, "The door was unlocked so I just let myself in, are you alright?" Ashton said.

Luke swallowed hard, feeling quite insecure, he walked out from the door he was behind. He almost wanted to scream at Ashton for just letting himself in like that, but he couldn't because before he could even say anything the man was already concernedly walking towards Luke with wide eyes- more than likely focusing on the bruise that still wasn't faded.

"Is this what he did to you?" Ashton asked while gently placing his hands on the boy's jawline, as if he were trying to inspect the injury better.

"Huh?" Luke said while pushing his hands away, "H-how do you know about that?" He asked while backing away with panic rushing through his body.