Doritos (Lashton)

I'm ok

A/n: so this is weird, a lot of dialogue, not much actual text. Hope it's still ok tho :)

Ashton wakes up in a dark room, unaware of his surroundings. His heart instantly begins to race, because he doesn't like the dark, and he's so scared. Everything hurt. His ribs, his stomach, his legs, his whole body ached.

Ashton had taken a beating from Jasper before, but he suddenly felt weak, head dizzy and eyes heavy. Footsteps near the room, so Ashton cowers against the headboard, knees drawn to his chest and eyes screwed shut.

"Ashton? Sweetheart? It's me, Liz. I'm Luke's mum"

Ashton opens his eyes, and tries to calm his nerves, but he's still shaking. She seems nice, but Ashton's learned to stop trusting people. Jasper seemed nice at one point as well. Ashton's breathing begins to get erratic, his throat tightening. He doesn't know what she's going to do to him.

"Hey, Hey, calm down. I just want to talk. I'll get Luke, and he can sit with you while we chat, will that make you feel better?"

"Y-yes"

"Alright, you're ok sweetheart, don't worry. You're safe now. No one is going to hurt you. He'll be up in a minute, ok?"

"T-thank yo-you"

Liz leaves the room and she returns moments later with Luke in tow, who looked as if he'd just woken up.

"Ashton, oh my god, how are you?"

Luke sits beside Ashton and wraps the smaller boy into a hug, nuzzling his nose into Ashton's curls.

"W-what h-happened?"

"We brought you here after Jasper, because you passed out. When's the last time you ate?"

"Th-T-the D-Dorito you gave me"

"Before that"

"W-hat day I-is it?"

"Saturday. But it's like 10:45 pm"

"Saturday morning, I had an apple"

"Shit"

Luke looks between Ashton and his mom, before casting his eyes down, and protectively pulling Ashton closer again. It is silent for a moment, before Liz speaks up.

"Ashton, we know what you're doing isn't safe or healthy. Does your mother know?"

"I-I was h-hospitalized, o-once when I was 13. S-she t-thinks I've overcome it b-because I e-eat m-more. But I t-throw it up s-sometimes. W-where is s-he? I-I had to babysit, mom had a late shift last night"

"She did. Luke brought you here and Calum took your siblings to his house. Your mum hasn't arrived home yet, and we can't reach her. Lauren and Harry don't know what happened because Calum didn't want to scare them, but Calum will tell your mom everything. For now, you're saying here, because you can't manage yourself alone."

"O-ok"

"I wanted to take you to the hospital the second you came here, because you were injured and clearly needed food in your system. Luke stopped me, said you wouldn't be happy if we did, and he wanted to make sure he could see you at any time. I have different things ready, try and a eat a bit, I need to see how serious this is. If it is we're going, because we don't wanna lose you. Ok?"

Ashton nods his head and shakily accepts the tray he hadn't noticed on the table. There is a bowl of soup, fruits, crackers, a sandwich and some chocolate. He shakily stirs the soup, swallowing thickly before bringing the spoon to his lips. Liz smiles at him, and lets him eat in quiet for a moment, before talking again.

"Now, Jasper hurt you, so Luke bandaged up your cuts and applied ointment to your bruises and cuts. Luke said you wouldn't preferred him to, I hope you're not uncomfortable by that"

"N-no"

Ashton shakes his head and feels gratitude for Luke. Luke knew about the blade marks and made sure know one else found out. Luke knew what that would do to him. Ashton looks back up at Liz, who urges him to eat, before continuing the conversation.

"Ok, I'm going to ask some things, say no whenever you don't want to answer, and if anything gets to heavy, and you just want to talk with Luke, I can leave. Are we ok with that?"

"Y-yea"

"What exactly happened, why did Jasper do that?"

"H-he, he gets angry. And when he's drunk it's bad. He hit me a few times and t-tried to a-apologize so I forgave him. B-but t-today, he t-tried to make m-me have s-sex with h-him"

"Oh, and what did you do?"

"I s-said no. And he asked me to at least give him a b-blowjob, b-but I said no."

"Are you still comfortable talking to me?"

"Y-yea. I t-trust Luke so I trust y-you. But I-I said no, and Jasper a-asked why. He asked I-if I've e-ever blown an-nyone, and I said no. He slapped me and tried to make me talk, and it h-hurt a lot, s-so I told him."

"That you have?"

"Y-yes. H-he asked who, so I told him, because he was starting to choke me, and I said L-Luke, and then- shit sorry, I s-shouldn't ha-have said that, you're his mother"

"No, no, don't worry. Luke and I will talk later, you just focus on your story right now"

Luke is blushing from his spot beside Ashton, and Ashton is equally embarrassed.

"A-and he g-got mad and hurt me and t-then Michael and Calum and Luke came."

"Has Jasper been prompting you to eat less?"

"He's not w-wrong. He says I'm too fat, and that I need to. He said he'll kill me if I d-don't change"

"Ashton, we can get him in some serious trouble, you know that? He hurt you, threatened you, h-"

"N-no, just leave him be. I don't want any trouble. He has to live with the guilt, which I think is punishment enough, and as long as Crystal tell t-their parents e-everything, it'll be ok."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes"

Liz rubs Ashton's leg, before smiling down at his tray. He'd eaten the whole bowl of soup and half the sandwich, along with a piece of chocolate.

"You ate, and I'm so proud of you"

"Thank you, I-i feel better. A little nauseous, but I think I can keep it down"

"Yea? At least you aren't always eating Doritos. They tell you to keep your children away from drugs, but not chips, Luke is practically addicted to those things"

Ashton giggles and cuddles further into Luke, before Liz leaves to answer her phone, meaningfully glancing back when she realizes it's Calum who's calling, as Anne had returned.

Ashton knew the way it'd go down with his mom, so he chose to focus on the blonde boy above him. He may or may not still like Luke, but he was aware Luke didn't, and he'd accepted it, instead grateful he had him for a friend.

Luke tries to make small talk with Ashton, smiling brightly when Ashton's stutter leaves him, proud of gaining his trust again.

"You really just told my mom you blew me, huh?"

"Sorry"

"Ha, we're gonna have an interesting talk later, I-"

Luke is cut off by his mother, who walks in the room, with Anne behind her. Anne grabs her son and pulls him into a hug, before she inspects him and runs her hand along his jaw, tears building up.

"Mum, don't cry, I'm fine. Lukey and Liz were here and I'm ok....I am."

"Oh baby, I'm so sorry, god I should've noticed you not eating and I-"

"Hey, we talked about this. No blaming yourself. Never, ok? I love you, and I'm ok"

Ashton repeats those words, perhaps to reassure himself, more than his mom.

He was ok.