Me. // Lashton

thirty

Almost exactly thirty minutes later, the door bell rang and Ashton made sure that it was safe to open the door without burning down his kitchen, before he left to open the door.

'Hey boys', Ashton greeted them when he saw that both band members had arrived.

'Hey Ash', Calum said and Ashton opened the door further, so they could come in.

'Hey', Michael said and they all walked into the kitchen, where the drummer finished the food.
Calum and Michael helped putting plates on the table and then sat down along with Ashton, who put the food onto the table.
They started eating and talked a little, before Michael spoke up, reminding them why they were there in the first place.

'So, Luke', he said and Calum and Ashton looked up.

'Yeah, you visited him last week, right?'

'Yep', Ashton answered, but continued talking when he saw the curious looks that the boys gave him, 'The physical part is mostly over. He lost a few pounds, because he easily gets sick still. Luke said that he'll start group therapy and should've had his first session yesterday.'

'What if someone recognises him?', Michael questioned just like Luke had days ago.

'Doesn't matter. Every patient has to sign something that tells them to stay quiet about other patients. They're not allowed to give out any information', the honey blonde explained and Michael nodded understandingly.

'So we won't have to deal with that and can think of something without having to fear that anyone spills the truth.'
This time Ashton nodded and put a fork full of food in his mouth.

'I honestly have no idea what to tell them though. I mean, should we say that he was sick and hospitalised or should we say that he was mentally unwell?'

'Well, I'm not sure how far we want to go from the truth, but no one should be able to connect the dots.'
The boys had dealt with situations like this before, but it had never been this serious and image damaging if the truth would come out. They wanted to keep Luke away from judgemental people and paparazzi. Papers and magazines that would only pick out the worst and spread untruthful details and things about the youngest band member.
They were sure that Luke wouldn't be able to deal with all the negativity, especially standing at the beginning of his withdrawal.

'We could tell them that he had a ruptured appendix?'

'No, that'd be too dramatic and he would also have scars from that. This could cause problems in the future', Calum quickly said.

'Right, right. What about.. what about a-', Michael tried to speak up again, but Ashton interrupted him.

'Guys, guys. We can tell them that Sierra and him broke up and that he wanted to take a break from social media and still will. This would be somehow the truth and we would have the break-up problem solved', he explained his idea and both boys nodded in agreement, satisfied with the idea.

'Wait, before we get too excited, I'll call our management and if they give us the green light, then we'll talk to Sierra.'

Said and done.
Ashton was currently on the phone with their management, walking into the room where Calum and Michael looked at him in anticipation. The drummer hung up and grinned widely at his friends.

'What are we waiting for? Let's call Sierra', he said and they highfived each other.

**

'Does Luke know about this?', Sierra asked, furrowing her eyebrows as Ashton had finished explaining their plan to her.

'Uhh, kinda?'

'Ashton', Sierra said in a warning tone and the drummer sighed in resignation.

'He doesn't but I swear we wanted to tell him next time I visit', Ashton mumbled, noticing how bad it really sounded.

'Yeah, okay I get it. I'll talk to him first and then we'll post it afterwards.'

'Sounds much better. I know that management is pressuring you guys, but Luke is your friend. Put him first', Sierra said and they hung up after that.

The rest of the evening and the time until Ashton was going to visit Luke again felt like years for him, even though it were just about 18 hours.
Ashton was even more nervous when he finally entered Luke's room, having Luke in his arms only seconds later.

'Hey baby', Ashton mumbled and pressed a kiss onto Luke's hair like he always did.

'I missed you Ashy', Luke said and kissed the sensitive skin on Ashton's neck, before he bit it slightly.
A soft moan escaped the drummer's lips and he had take all his willpower to stop Luke from going any further.

'Lu, Lu please. I need to talk to you.'

'Why?', Luke whined and kissed the spot again, this time licking over it and watching goosebumps form on the skin.

'You're a very bad boy', Ashton said and grabbed Luke's thighs. He leaned closer to his boyfriend and brought his mouth close to Luke's ear.

'Jump', he told him and the blonde obeyed immediately, wrapping his legs around Ashton's waist and letting the drummer carry him towards the bed. Instead of kissing Luke passionately and ripping the boy's clothes off, Ashton sat down and let his thumb circle over Luke's cheek.

'Lukey, the fans are worried. They haven't seen you in weeks and it's about time to give them answers, don't you think?', Ashton started, finally having Luke's full attention on the topic.

'I guess there's something planned already?'

'Well, sort of. We thought that telling them about you and Sierra's breakup could be the solution. That would explain why there haven't been any pictures of you two anymore and why you suddenly disappeared.'
Luke hesitated a bit, before he nodded.

'Yeah, that could work.'