Golden Retriever. // Lashton AU

part thirteen

The next days were a lot for Luke to take.
He learned that his mother was dealing with serious mental health issues.
Liz never wanted Luke to find out, but she knew that her condition got worse and that she had to do something about it. She wanted to go into therapy a little further away to regain her strength and control of her mind.

Luke had been completely clueless that his mother had suffered for years, because she hid it so well and it made Luke question himself.

Ashton being the gentleman he was, told Liz that he would take care of Luke as long as she needed him to.
Liz gladly accepted because she knew that Ashton would care well for Luke and that was the most important thing for her.

All of this had taken place about three weeks ago and since then, Luke was mostly living at Ashton's place.

Right now Ashton was watching Luke, while the younger boy was drawing.
Even though his eyes were looking straight to were Luke was sitting, Ashtons thoughts were somewhere else.

'Daddy?'
Luke's voice snapped Ashton out of his thoughts.

'I'm sorry princess. What were you saying?', Ashton asked and ran his fingers through Luke's hair.

'Can I sit on your lap?'
Ashton nodded and Luke made himself comfortable with his head rested against Ashton's chest.

Ashton placed a kiss on Luke's hair, letting his lips linger there for a little longer.

There was one more thing that was bothering Ashton: Luke's behaviour. It wasn't like the blonde boy wasn't behaving good at home, but his grades had dropped in the last weeks, he started to only wear black, stayed out until late and came home smelling like smoke and alcohol and made questionable friends. He was an angel in the afternoon, unless he wasn't even home, but a little demon in the morning.