Let's be Cliché || Lashton

Hand Hugs

A/N: You're all so adorable oml ^ ^
Tbt, one of my favourite pictures of Ashton.

"Mr. Hemmings, I'd like you to stay behind after class so we might discuss some things," Mrs. Stanton instructed a few seconds before the bell could ring, shooting a pointed look toward the blond so he knew there was no way of getting out of it.

The bell rang and Ashton took that as his cue to very slowly pack up his things so that not only can he eavesdrop on the conversation but also so he wouldn't look lost as he waited for Luke to get out of class. Although, he was pretty sure Luke would have loved that in terms of the plan.

"My my, don't you look lovely today." Luke chuckled, strolling up to the teacher's desk with that easy smile he always got when he would talk to someone that didn't know him personally.

"Flattery won't get you anywhere," Mrs. Stanton cut in, having already dealt with the likes of Luke many times.

Ashton's attempt to stay invisible until the teacher was finished talking to Luke became impossible when she made direct eye contact with Ashton before dropping her voice so only Luke could hear. Judging by the way Luke looked over his shoulder to see if Ashton was paying attention, it wasn't good.

The teacher and Luke were arguing in hushed tones for a while before Ashton realized that he'd overstayed his welcome. He couldn't pretend to collect his things when they were all stored safely in his backpack.

He decided to leave and just wait for Luke to sit down at lunch, no doubt Luke would want to move on with the plan as soon as the opportunity arose.

✩

Ashton, having stopped by his locker to grab some spare change he'd left in there, walked into the cafeteria at the best and possibly worst time. As he got into the lunch line, one of the staff was just bringing out a fresh pizza. While he was walking toward his usual table, he found a stray five dollar bill on the ground. Upon standing up straight after picking it up, he looked up in just enough time to see one of the footie players dump the contents of a garbage can over his best friends.

As he reached the table his smile flattered, today was going quite well in his opinion and having some assholes dump trash on his friends really wrecked his mood.

"Can I freaking help you?" Calum roared, launching out of his seat marching over to the players spilling bits of garbage onto the floor as he went.

The football team just laughed in response, they didn't think there was much that could be done in this situation.

The only thing they weren't expecting was for Michael to pick a banana peel off his shoulder and stand up as well. Michael was normally really good at ignoring people that didn't agree with him. Calum and Michael had only been here for a few days and Michael already had a reputation of avoiding conflict.

Ashton watched the normally unfazed and happy boy walk up to stand next to Calum. Being a few inches taller than his boyfriend, Michael didn't really stand up to his full height very often and Ashton never really saw him standing up, he's always sitting down. When he stood in front of the footie players with his arms crossed and a slight glare on his face, Michael looked surprisingly scary.

"Pardon me," he began politely, surprising Calum by speaking up. "I think this is yours."

Michael then proceeded to flick small amounts of leftover food on to the lead football player.

Before the football team fully processed that trash became part of their wardrobe as well, Michael began to advance with fists clenched.

"Ashton! Help me out," Calum shouted, trying to keep Michael away from the footballers. Setting his tray down, Ashton quickly came to the rescue even though he wasn't much help.