Live in the Moment - Lashton

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

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Ashton arrived at his usual time at Luke's house, seven o'clock. The sun had barely risen and there was a harsh wind making its way through the street. Shivering slightly, Ashton pressed the doorbell for the second time.

Hunching his shoulders a little Ashton stepped back to take a glance at the windows and the door slowly opened to Theo stood there in pyjamas. Not once since Ashton had been doing this had the young boy open the door.

"Morning Theo!" Ashton said chirpily, the frown still present on his face.

"Morning!" Theo grinned waiting for his teacher to step in. "Daddy is in the shower and he told me that when I saw you through the window I should let you in, but no one else."

Ashton nodded to himself. "Of course! You should never open the door to a stranger, it's dangerous. Did daddy get up late?" Ashton asked curiously, sliding his coat off and placing it on a coat hook, the furthest to the left where he always placed it.

Theo nodded. "Daddy went on a date last night. Nanny said he is in love!"

Ashton chuckled slightly, a pang of butterflies fluttered in his stomach at the thought of the blonde telling his mother that. It probably never happened, just something she said to Theo so he'd understand. But the thought of Luke loving him was all he wanted right now.

"What do you want for breakfast today then young man?" Ashton asked, opening up a cupboard and taking out a box of cereal and a loaf of bread. "Toast or cereal?"

Theo grinned widely. "Cereal," he stated, pointing at the purple box. Ashton nodded and began to pour some into a bowl, fetching the milk from the fridge he pulled off the tab from the fresh bottle and placed the bowl in front of the small boy.

He then went over to the bin, pressed the pedal down and chucked the waste in. Letting the lid pang back down he frowned. Once again he pushed the pedal down and furrowed his eyebrows. His eyes settled on the broken shards of glass scattered in the bin. On one shard he noticed the familiar logo of the vodka that he often had himself.

Sighing Ashton didn't know what this meant. Maybe the blonde just needed a drink, but the bottle being smashed suggested something else. Perhaps he was drunk and dropped it, but it did not seem like the blonde.

Just as he let the lid fall down again the blonde entered the kitchen, his hair wet and pushed back out of his face, and still dressed in his pyjamas. "Hey," he mumbled to his son's teacher, whilst heading over to his son and picks him up, putting him on his lap.

Luke just sat there, with his son on his lap, watching him eat his breakfast in awe that he had so much courage to actually eat the cereal. Sighing the blonde ran a finger down Theo's face, feeling how it was beginning to fill out.

"Luke," Ashton said softly, his heartbreaking at the younger man's actions. He knew exactly what was going through the blonde's mind and was curious if it connected to what he had found in the bin.

Slowly Luke looked at him, his eyes covered with a slight gloss. He did not need to hear what the older man had to say, only he slid his son off of his lap and placed him back of the chair, heading out of the kitchen and into the living room. Ashton followed after him, telling Theo to stay there for a while.

From the doorway, he watched the blonde sit cross-legged on the sofa, his head in his hands. "You look so small," he remarked, his voice hoarse.

"I saw you looking in the bin," Luke mumbled, looking into his lover's eyes. Smiling sadly he sat beside the blonde, taking both of his hands in his own. "I'm not an alcoholic or anything like that—" he began trying to defend himself.

Ashton could not help but laugh. "I know you're not Luke. There is nothing wrong with a drink here and there. But, I do know that you rarely drink and I want to know why the bottle's smashed?"

Looking down at the older man's hands, he began to insecurely rub patterns into them. "I was just angry and confused. I just broke, as we all do sometimes."

Ashton nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we do. But, Luke I think this was different for you. It was about the one piece of popcorn wasn't it?" he asked anxiously.

Gulping slightly, Luke shook his head. "That would be silly," he laughed faintly. "No, I just realised that you were my son's teacher and I don't know that this is difficult."

Ashton cupped the blondes face in his hands and pressed his lips against the blonde. "I can always find another job Luke if they want me gone if this gets out. But, I won't ever find another you."

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