Strings Attached (lashton, editing)

Fifteen.

i miss u. 

Luke sends the text to Ashton as he lies in his large and empty bed, knowing the younger boy has two exams that week so there was no way Luke was going to let Ashton distract himself by going over. However, Luke missed waking up next to the boy. 

Ashton had barely been around Luke's for the past two weeks, with his exams taking up most of his time, but also the silent agreement they'd made that while Tim was around Ashton would limit his time at the apartment. Luke was still scared of having another person rip themselves out of Tim's life and breaking both their hearts. 

"Daddy," Luke turned over in his bed to see Tim in his doorway, waiting for his father to get up. 

"What's up Timmy?" Luke smiled at his son. Still amazed that he was able to help create such a beauty. 

"I'm hungry," Tim huffs like it was obvious, giving his father the look that Luke knew all too well. "I want pancakes."

"Do you now?" Luke laughs at his son who only huffs and whines again as his father fails to actually get out from his bed and make breakfast. "And what special occasion is it that we're having pancakes."

"Nothing, I just want them and you're going to make them."

"Alright, alright. I'm getting up," Luke smiles again as his son bounces in his spot. "Only if you help me though."

Luke spends his morning making pancakes for Tim, of course managing to cover them both in flour and syrup in the process. These were his favourite days, where he had the whole day with no work, no worries and Tim all to himself. Before he and Michael broke up, they used to do almost the exact same thing but after a while they stopped and Luke was left to do them alone. 

Tim allowed Luke to have his Saturday morning fun again.

 By the time the early afternoon had rolled around, Luke had managed to do just about nothing with his day. Other than washing his food covered child and kitchen, he spent his day on the couch watching more episodes of The Wiggles with Tim who was entranced by the show. While his son was distracted, he pulled out his phone again in hopes of seeing a reply from Ashton. 

:)

you too

study is boring

howd you get thru your degree 

maybe I should be a diner waiter my whole life 

surely easier and less painful than this 

Laughing lightly at the abundance of texts the boy had sent him, Luke assures the boy the pain of exams will be worth it and to think of the holiday season coming up. Luke was looking forward to the Christmas break because it meant being able to spend more time with Tim, even more excuses for him to bake a hundred and one things, but secretly the thing he was looking forward to most was having no excuses for Ashton not be around. 

Luke was literally counting down the days until Ashton had his last exam. It made him feel like he was back in high school, waiting for his crush to come around. 

I'm twenty-three dammit, why does he make me feel like a child.

No matter how hard he fought it, Luke couldn't fight off the giddy feeling he got in his stomach each time Ashton sent him a smiley face or complained to him about college. He didn't even bother to hide his smile as Ashton told him he missed him for the third time that day. 

-

"Timmy, can you go open the door? It's uncle Cal,"Luke called from the kitchen after he'd heard a soft knock at his front door.