Seventeen

13

Tw// sex, suicide and depression mention

☆☆☆☆

Michael shifts for a second, squeezing his eyes shut in a failed attempt to chase sleep. He gives up after a bit and huffs out a sigh that ruffles the honey curls in front of him. A smile creeps up onto his mouth, despite the early wake up call, when Michael realizes he's Michael and he's awake and he's got his beautiful boyfriend in his arms.

He presses a kiss to the back of Ashton's head, but the boy just grunts and mutters, "stop." Michael smiles even more and presses a few more kisses to Ashton's hair. "I'm sleeping, leave me alone."

Michael chuckles softly as his hand drifts forward. One arm is tucked under Ashton's neck, but the other rubs over his belly slowly. Ashton sighs in content and turns his head to nuzzle into Michael's elbow.

Michael doesn't stay at Ashton's often. Mainly he's afraid of waking up in the middle of the night and letting Twenty out without thinking, and he's afraid of Nine coming out and accidentally hurting Ashton or the baby. They usually come out when Michael's guard is down, when he's half asleep or overcome with emotions. It's just better to stay away from Ashton during those moments, he figures, but sometimes it's unavoidable.

The night previous had been their one year anniversary and Ashton had demanded to be taken out for a proper wining and dining. Michael had agreed easy enough and taken him out for dinner, where Ashton had complained about the food, then cried into his chicken, and a movie, where Ashton had fallen asleep. Michael didn't really mind, he enjoyed both the dinner and the movie, and Ashton had demanded a kiss when they were finished, which escalated quickly, and ended with Michael tucking his six month pregnant boyfriend to his chest to sleep.

Now, Michael tilts his head until his mouth finds skin to kiss, traveling down Ashton's jaw and neck easily enough. "You know I love you, right?" He breathes out against the corner of Ashton's jaw.

"More than anything else in the world, yes," Ashton replies softly. Michael pulls his arm out from underneath Ashton and guides the smaller boy onto his back, then crawls down to slot himself between Ashton's legs.

"And you know," Michael whispers, elbows braced on either side of Ashton's hips as he gently rubs his bare belly. "You know I love your baby, right?"

"Our baby," Ashton corrects.

Michael hums and leans down to kiss the top of the bump softly. "Our baby. You know I love our baby, don't you, beautiful boy?"

"More than the universe and everything inside of it," Ashton mumbles back. Michael nods and places soft kisses all over Ashton's tummy through his smile. Ashton sighs happily above him.

"You are so beautiful," Michael whispers as his fingers trail down Ashton's stomach and onto his hips and thighs. "My perfect, beautiful boy."

Ashton whines at that and twists slightly on the sheets, hands fisting them until they find Michael's hair. He grips the blue locks gently while Michael continues kissing his belly and rubbing his thighs. Michael loves his boy so much.

☆☆

Across town, Luke grabs a box and sweeps his arm across the coffee table. He knocks everything on top- picture frames, trinkets, even the cloth- into the box with one, swift movement.

"What are you doing?" Calum demands, stumbling out of their bedroom. His hair is wild, short, dark curls twirling around his face artfully, and his eyes are bleary. He rubs at them with his knuckle while trying to see what Luke's doing to their coffee table.