Let's be Cliché || Lashton

Death Grip

A/N: Ask and you shall reeeeecieve :D

"So I've got the plate of brownies in one hand, a broken umbrella in the other. Calum's texting me about being locked in a closet, there's a librarian type old lady breathing down my neck, some snot nosed kid hitting me with spitballs and my foot is still stuck in the trash bin." Michael says, recalling his trip to a famous art gallery. With a shake of his head he goes to explain further and eventually tell everyone how he managed to get his foot out of the bin when a teenager walked up to the table they were seated at causing Michael to stop mid sentence to see what the guy wanted.

"Is this where the homosexuals sit..?" He asked awkwardly under the gaze of four boys, his knuckles turning a lighter shade from the force he was gripping  his lunch tray as he waited for a response.

"What's it to you?" Michael muttered, raising his eyebrow at the newcomer, the piercing catches the light momentarily before it disappears into his bright pink hair.

"It's okay, why are you looking for the 'homosexuals?'" Luke asks, mostly to mock the boy on his vocabulary. Which Ashton punched him in the leg for but the smirk didn't leave Luke's face.

"O-Oh, um, I was just looking for people to fit in with." The boy smiled weakly as he looked at each of the four other boys.

"No offence, but, I don't really think you fit in here." Calum reasoned, gesturing to the boy's sweater vest and tanned pants which were obviously ironed recently. "Are you from a private school?"

"Why do you ask?"

"You certainly don't dress like you're from public school," Calum laughed, nearly snorting at the stranger's shined shoes. Michael almost pointed out the guy's patterned socks to the rest of the group because they matched his sweater vest perfectly.

"Guys, guys." Luke interrupted the two boys' snickering finally. "Show him a little respect, I had to wear a uniform in elementary. He likes to keep his appearance clean, we shouldn't judge him for it."

Somehow that got Michael and Calum to finally stop laughing, and mumble short apologizes. They exchanged quick glances before Calum suddenly knocked Michael off the bench and on to the ground.

Thankfully they were outside so the impact wasn't that bad but Michael still whined about it, he decided to continue laying on the ground when Calum wanted to help him up.

"Wow, relationship goals." Luke snorted, clapping his hands together while he laughed.

"Ask, and you shall receive." Ashton spoke up finally, shoving Luke's shoulder suddenly and knocking the boy off the bench. All four boys seated at the table began laughing hysterically, unable to fully understand what had them laughing so hard.

Surprisingly when they all finally settled down, the kid was still there. Awkward at the very least but he was still there.

"What's your name?" Ashton asked, a soft sigh leaving his lips as he helped Luke up.

"Charlie."

"Why are you looking for the Gays of the Round Table?" Michael asked in a faux posh accent.

Charlie shrugged at that, seeming to mull it over in his head. "I've been here for three days and I have been met with such negativity, someone told me I'd be better off hanging out with the gays, so here I am."

"Are you?" Calum seemed to ask the question that was on everyone's mind.

"No, I'm straight." He chuckled, kicking a tuft of grass casually.

"Well, Charlie. Welcome to the squad!" Michael laughed, spilling some soda on his shirt as he made a grand gesture.

"Luke, he's a hoe, stay away from him. Ashton, he's a teddy bear, Luke will probably hurt you if you don't stay away from him. Calum, he's a scrub-I mean the best boyfriend in the world. And I'm Michael." The now fluorescent pink haired boy pointed to each of the boys as he said their name.

The picnic table was a little small to fit more than four comfortably but Luke tried to make Charlie comfortable by pressing himself against Ashton so he wouldn't have to brush up against him.

Both Ashton and Luke were seated identically, arms crossed over the tank and ankles crossed under, they didn't seem to notice it even though Calum did.

"Perfect," Michael muttered sarcastically, nodding toward an approaching group of teenagers. The four sighed heavily when recognizing none other than Trick, Charlie was a little confused by the gesture but caught on to the negativity directed toward the approaching boy a lot quicker than Ashton thought he would.

Much to Luke's surprise, Trick didn't say a single word as he leaned against the edge of the wooden table, two of his friends stationed themselves a safe distance away.

"I need to call in a favour, 'emmo my boy." Trick says finally, surveying the yellowing grass around them. Eyes searching each group of teenagers carefully, looking for someone.

"I don't owe you shit, Trick, get out of here." Luke muttered, tongue fumbling with his black lip ring as he caught Trick's eyes.

"I know, I know. But I'm in a bit of a jam." Trick admits, running a hand through his hair shakily.

"Stop beating around the bush, Dunce Cap. None of us care what you did, just get on with it." Michael snapped, having become easily irritated by Trick in the span of a minute.

"Not in front of him." Trick spat, eyes staring directly at Ashton. Something about the look in his eyes was unsettling. Ashton was fully prepared to up and leave so that he could get away from Trick but Luke had snagged his hand a while back without him noticing, it must have felt so naturally that the gesture didn't register in his brain. Luke subconsciously touching him was like breathing, he never really thought about it because it felt like it was a natural occurrence.

When Ashton tried to rise out of his seat, Luke's grip on his hand tightened considerably. So he lowered back down onto the bench, sending Luke a quick smile to reassure him he no longer had plans on leaving.

"Fine, Vernie wants to kick your ass, then he says he's going to..." Trick's voice drops below a whisper as he leans across the table to whisper the last bit in Luke's ear. He spoke into the blond's ear for quite sometime, it seemed like with each word Luke tightened his grip on Ashton's hand, his whole body seemed to tense up from whatever it was Trick was telling him.

"You better not be fucking around." Luke snapped finally as Trick backed away from him, he fixed the boy with an ice cold glare.

"Michael, you and I need to talk." Luke said once Trick swore he was telling the truth. Luke's eyes didn't soften when they met Michael's green ones but the pink haired boy seemed to understand the message Luke was trying to convey.

"Hey, um, Ash? I think I forgot some homework at my house, mind coming to get it with me?" Calum asked abruptly, giving a look that screamed that they needed to get out of here.

Instead of answering, Ashton turned to Luke with pursed lips, he knew what was going to happen if he left. It wasn't going to brant thing pretty.

"Trust me, you don't want to see this." Luke added, squeezing Ashton's hand with a forced smile. Ashton surprised himself by pulling Luke into a hug, sure he'd hugged his best friend lots of times but something about this hug was different.

It was long, warm and lingering. For once, Ashton could smell Luke. Not his gross ass dude perfume-cologne, but the boy. He could smell a sharp peppermint scent, something completely boyish that he couldn't put a name to, he could smell Luke's hair product, he could smell the everlasting scent of cigarette smoke. Ashton could smell Luke.

"See you later?" Ashton mumbled as the two departed, it was coded, something only Luke seemed to understand. What Ashton meant was be careful, stay safe, I'll miss you.

"Promise," Luke gave Ashton a true smile and a wink. His tone was playful, if there was something Ashton knew about Luke, the boy would probably trick death to come see him. Luke wasn't worried, why should Ashton be? The other boys always teased him for worrying so much anyway.

Luke gave Ashton a slobbery kiss on the cheek to make the latter smile before he left.

Luke was going to be fine.

A/N: Hello! I'm glad everyone is liking this fic so much, I didn't think it would really click but you've proved me wrong.

Yeah, I did accidentally change Michael's hair halfway through the update, oops. I fixed it though shhhh