Demons |¤| Lashton

Distracted!

I'm really sorry for bringing Panic! into this. They'll be out of your hair soon, don't worry.

Ashton and Ryan had a wonderful time at the bar. The alcohol helped distract him.

Of course, Ashton was just cramming everything into the back of his head and trying to close the door on it for once, but it was good enough. The alcohol made the effort convincing.

Ashton was a tad bit drunk now, and he could see poor Ryan trying to keep him on the down low.

He wasn't even sure how much Ryan had drank. He couldn't remember seeing Ryan taking one actual good drink from his glass. Ashton began to panic as they walked out to Ryan's car.

"Ryan...drink?" Ashton slurred a bit, far more concerned than he sounded.

"Good, good," Ryan answered him, putting the keys in the ignition. Ashton automatically slumped with relief. Why would he even doubt Ryan? He was a good friend; he'd take good care of Ashton.

Such good care that Ryan had offered for Ashton to stay at his place. With some reassurance, Ashton accepted. There was room for him.

The hairs stood up on Ashton's arms as they drove back. They left the main sights and retreated into the darker places of Las Vegas. The lights made Ashton feel safe. They were big and they represented people.

With no lights, Ashton felt vulnerable. All he could hear was the hum of the engine and Ryan's breathing.

He wondered why the radio wasn't on.

"It's broken," Ryan said aloud, reading Ashton's thoughts.

"Oh."

"I'll bring it in tomorrow. Maybe I'll get a custom system. Maybe not. How long are you staying?"

"I dunno."

"Well, it'll be nice having someone around. I bet Dottie will like you."

"Mmm... you tired?"

Ryan chuckled. "Absolutely not. Now's not the time to be tired."

"You're right." Ashton tried to stretch out. He wanted to be as awake as Ryan.

That didn't last long.

"Ashton, wake up man. We're here."

"Mmph." Ashton robotically unbuckled his seatbelt, his eyes still closed.

"Whatever happened to being awake? Come on, you can sleep in just a few minutes."

Ashton didn't really question wht Ryan had a room in the attic. It was such a strange place to sleep in, but Ashton just wanted to sleep.

"You have some stuff in here. Do you sleepwalk or sleeptalk or anything?"

"No."

"Alright. Don't come downstairs before 10 am unless you have to."

---

It was 5 am when Ashton heard the voices weaving their way into his dreams.

But it was okay, because the voices made a decent addition to the background noise of his dream, which was pleasant for once.

It was the best sleep Ashton had in a long time.

---

Ash woke up to a nice glass of water and a couple pills for his hangover. He smiled. The clock in the wall read 1 pm.

"I am the master of the house, and.I highly recommend you take those immediately," Ryan said, waltzing across the tiny attic. Ashton rubbed his eyes.

What a great but late way to start the day.

---

"Why are you so chatty? Not that it's a bad thing, I actually like it. But you always seemed so quiet."

"Interviews are the literal worst. Its something about the fact that there's a script and a limited amount of questions. And they're always the same. There's no way we could could communicate anything through interviews. I could get fuckin' asked a million different questions about my dating status and how it feels seeing thousands of faces staring at you on stage, but I wouldn't get to say a peep about the music. They like to think that all this information is what the people want to hear, but we're far more than those stupid little lines."

Ashton was quiet for a long while, sipping coffee and occasionally meeting eyes with Dottie, who was  sweeping her nose across the floor.

"Well," he started. "You've changed my entire perspective on interviews. Although I must say, I do really just want to make people happy. If they missed the message the first 20 times, maybe its worth it to say it again, just to make them happy."

"Maybe I'm not so forgiving. But maybe you're too kind."

"Regardless, you're still rad."

"I bet you never saw anything in an interview that said I liked math."

"You did?"

"It was this stupid abstract thing that I felt. Because I hated it, I supposedly loved it. It's stupid, but its how I write my songs."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but the other half about it is about Brallon."

"No."

"I know. I'm kidding."

"God bless you."

"Thanks. Also, mind telling me why you showed up in Las Vegas all alone?"

"We've got some problems," Ashton said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Care to tell me?"

"This is going to sound crazy, but we all think that Luke is actually possessed and he's out to get me."

Ashton swore he saw something flash in Ryan's eyes, but it went too fast for him to really believe he saw anything at all.

"I see."

"Yeah. He's already gotten me good a couple times before."

"Really?"

"I got a really bad case of appendicitis not too far back, and that was him, I'm sure."

"That makes absolutely no sense, but I'm sure we can resolve this issue easily enough."

"God, I hope so."