Façade<Lashton>

13 - Done With Façades

Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought. ~Percy Bysshe Shelly

Ashton's POV

I stared at Luke, he stared at me. Neither one of us said a word, Luke's cries turned into a silent flow of tears.

[Semi-Triggering Scene]

"A-Ash.." Luke choked. All down his arms leaked bright red blood, dripping off his damaged skin and onto the wood floor beneath them. In his right hand was a sharp piece of metal, tinted in the same color of red.

"Oh my gosh.." I mumbled. "Y-You.. I.. What.. Why..?" I took a few steps back, my hands, no, my entire body was shaking. "What have you done?"

"Ash.." Luke whimpered.

"How..How did I miss it?" I pulled at my hair. "All summer with the long sleeves and pants. Never going swimming, never changing for gym. When you winced unexplainably.. How.."

"Ashton.."

"I swear Luke you're a damned good actor." I breathed. "How'd you hide it from us?"

"The boys know." Luke whispered.

"W-What.." I mumbled. "And, I didn't?" Luke gave a sheepish nod. "Why-Why not?"

"I didn't want to hurt you.." Luke said, his face turning red as he ducked his head in shame.

"Oh Luke, you idiot." I breathed and walked towards him and sat in front of him. "Even in your worst moments, you always worry about me."

"I-I didn't want to be treated different and-and I know if I'm happy you'd be happy too." Luke said.

"Oh Luke." I gave a small smile. "Stop worry about all that. I'm not going to treat you differently. And never act differently from how you feel." Luke's eyes turned up to me. "I need you to be you. Okay?" Luke nodded. "Now c'mon, let's get you cleaned up." I stood up and lifted Luke up before we walked to the bathroom. I took the blade from Luke's hand and threw it in the sink.

Dabbing a cloth in cool water I dabbed away the mess, taking very careful caution for Luke's sake. The entire time he just watched me carefully.

I continued to dab Luke's arms until they were clean enough for me to wrap up. And when I did I noticed an oval shape land on the off-white fabric.

[Okay I think that's good]

"You're crying." Luke whispered and wiped under my eyes.

"Sorry." I mouthed as I threw away the rag. Luke just stood in place, a frown etching his features.

"Talk to me." I said.

"I feel like I let you down." Luke mumbled.

"Never." I smiled. "Hey, Luke, I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier." I began to run my hand through his hair. "I had no idea it would be..This." Luke moved closer and laid his head in the crook of my neck. I wrapped my arms around his small figure and rubbed his back gently. "I'm sorry for calling you pathetic too..You're not."

"It's okay Ashy." Luke mumbled.

"I care about you a lot, I should never have said anything like that." I sighed.

"I forgive you." Luke said. Luke lifted his head up and kissed my nose, a smiling growing on my face as he turned red. "It scrunches." Luke said as he poked my nose.