Fall for You | OT4

seventy three

ashton and calum left the apartment around eight in the morning. they wanted to surprise luke with some breakfast, but luke literally had absolutely nothing they could use to make breakfast. in fact, his entire fridge and pantry is close to empty. does the boy even eat?

ashton reminds himself to ask luke about that later. right now, he just wants to focus on getting breakfast foods.

there was a grocery shop ten minutes away from the apartment. ashton had made a list of the food luke needed. now that he knows luke literally only has crackers (that are probably stale) and a few beer bottles, he's just going to grocery shop for him. he can already hear luke's protests in his mind, but he ignores them. he's doing something good for his boyfriend. they are taking care of luke.

calum was in charge of marking off the list while ashton pushed the cart. since it was earlier in the morning, there wasn't a lot of people in the store. they were able to shop with no disruption the entire time.

they loaded the groceries into the trunk of the car, except for the eggs and bread so they wouldn't be damaged, and drove back to the apartment.

during the ride, calum was oddly quiet. well, it wasn't really odd, but it was different. calum has always been the 'quiet' one in the band. he doesn't like to talk much in fear of saying something wrong, embarrassing, or his lisp. he gets teased about his lisp a lot and sometimes it hurts because he can't control it. he even attempted to go to speech therapy but his boyfriend's stopped that idea very quickly.

"don't change something just because others don't like it."

"what's on your mind, bub?" ashton asks, breaking the silence.

calum just shrugs and mumbles 'nothing'. he keeps his focus towards the window, and that's how ashton definitely knows calum is lying. when his focus is off somewhere else, he is lying. that's a trait they all learned within the first month of knowing each other.

"c'mon baby, don't lie to me. what's going on in the mind of yours?" ashton says, gently but sternly. gently to not scare calum, but stern to let calum know he did not like the lie.

calum sighs and fiddles with his fingers. the black paint was chipping off, and calum was only making it worse as he scratched it off.

"i'm just... i'm worried about luke. i still can't get rid of the sick feeling from what dayla did to him. i know he says he's fine and tries to act like it, but i know he isn't. i'm scared he's going to end up hurting himself, or just damaging himself even more. and, i'm worried about you and michael. y-you've just.. you look stressed and tired all of the time. michael he's... more distant. i'm just worried about all of you and i want to help." calum says.

ashton lets every word sink in. of course luke isn't fine. he's gone through some shit no one should. he's struggling and has no idea what to do. luke was scared of change, that was clear. change ruined luke, and maybe that's why he's so afraid of... everything. ever since luke told them about dayla, ashton has just felt sick. he can't wrap his thoughts around it. how could someone do such terrible things to such a sweet boy?

luke only ever wanted love. when he was given the chance, it broke him. love broke luke. though that relationship was not love, luke loved dayla. dayla, on the other hand, didn't love him. dayla broke luke.

and yes, ashton is tired. he's been worried about his boyfriends, and their music. the song writing process isn't going as well as they thought it would. coming back to australia was supposed to bring back their inspiration. this is their home, where the band first began.

michael has been distant, and that worries ashton. is there something going on with him? is he out of his medicine? is he even taking his medicine? taking care of himself? they, as in ashton and calum, have had to tell michael to eat, sleep, take his medicine, and take care of himself. it's not that michael forgets to or wants to be treated like a child, he just... doesn't want to. life had just given michael hell. life gave the most precious, sweet boy, a living hell. and he did not deserve it.