He's Bad News [Lashton AU]

Chapter 13

I shuddered against the cold as I slammed my car door behind me, blocking out the bitter wind.

I always lost track of time whenever I was round at Cal's house.

I twisted my keys in the ignition and the dashboard lit up. 10:26pm.

Leaving Calum home alone was always a struggle. Getting out of the door was the worst. He usually kept me with him by clinging onto me until I physically untangled him from my legs. It had become kind of a routine now. He refused to let me leave until his parents got home or whatever.

Calum was a big softie really, the guy was scared of his own shadow. Not that he would admit it. It was only ever with each other when we showed our gooey side.

I shook my head with a chuckle and started up my engine.

The drive home wasn't going to take long and I'm sure Ryan wouldn't be too pissed at my late arrival.

I was almost two blocks away from home now, blasting out a bit of Blink and singing along to the lyrics obnoxiously.

Admittedly, I was going over the speed limit and wasn't exactly looking where I was going as I changed the track on the cd. I glanced up, my heart jumping into my throat as I approached someone walking aimlessly in the middle of the road. My foot slammed on the brakes just in the knick of time and I watched as the person slowly turned to face me.

Stood wide eyed in the head lights was Ashton.

As I stared at him through the windsheild, I noticed he had tears in his eyes and his arms were wrapped around himself to try and keep himself warm as he shivered in just a t-shirt.

I jumped out of the car and jogged over to him. He stared up at me with sad eyes and without either of us saying a word, I took off my denim jacket and wrapped it around Ashton's shoulders. It drowned him and I had to admit, he looked unbearably cute.

I pulled him into the passenger side of my car and began driving.

The journey was quiet for a few moments before I spoke up.

"Late night walk, huh?" I asked and Ashton nodded.

"What were you thinking, Ash? It's freezing, you could catch a cold, or neumonia or-" I stopped rambling as I noticed Ashton begin to giggle at me freaking out out of the corner of my eye.

"It's not funny, Ashton! What were you doing?"

His eyes suddenly grew sad and I couldn't help but feel my heart wrench at the small boy slouched down in the seat gripping onto my jacket around him to regain warmth.

"Do you wanna go talk about it somewhere?" I asked quietly, my eyes on the road.

"Yes please" he whispered quietly and I nodded.

I pulled up outside the kids park. Obviously it was empty. It was lit up by small lanterns peppering the ground and I hopped out the car. Ashton's face was confused and his eyes were questioning when I opened his side of the door.

I laughed. "I'm not just dumping you here, silly. Come with me"

Ashton followed me into the park, up some miniature steps and over an awkward wobbly bridge to the turret by the slide. I sat down and crossed my legs and Ashton did the same. The space was very cramped but also cosy. It wasn't so cold here since we were sheltered by the wind and with Ashton's and mines body heat, he soon stopped shivering.

"Why are you out so late?" I began getting straight into conversation.

Ashton huddled his knees to his chest before he spoke.

"I needed to get out of the house. My thoughts were driving me insane and my family weren't home" he murmered.

"What were you thinking about?" I asked curiously.

"How much of a failiure I am, I can't do anything right. I tried to read all of your notes to calm me down but nothing was working. I attempted to make dinner, I burnt it, I was trying to do homework, I didn't understand it, I dropped one of my mums favourite ornaments when I tried to clean around the house a little. I'm so stupid!"

Ashton's fingers locked into his hair and he began hitting himself in the side of his head. I quickly lurched over and grabbed both of his wrists placing them at his sides and that's when I noticed blood stains showing through the sleeves of my jacket he was wearing in the dim light shining through the slits of the wood in the turret.

I felt my heart sink and stared up at Ashton with pained eyes.

"You're better than this" I told him, my voice a barely audible whisper. "Ashton, you can't blame yourself for the tiniest mistakes. Everyone has off days. It doesn't make you stupid or worthless or dumb, it makes you human" it killed me inside to know that Ashton was so unhappy with himself that he felt the need to physically punish his beautiful self. I lightly placed both hands over his sleeves and gazed up at him, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"No more please" I begged and Ashton pulled his wrists away.

"Why do you care so much, Luke? Why are you being nice to me? You're nice to no one and if this is all just a joke to make me look stupid then-"

I cut Ashton off quickly by lightly gripping the sides of his face and placing my lips to his. I soon melted into the kiss and Ashton let out a small whine. Our lips moved in perfect harmony for a while longer before I pulled away, resting my forehead against his, my thumb gently stroking Ashton's jaw. He nibbled on the inside of his lip his eyes burning into mine.

"That's why" I told him quietly. "There's something about you, Irwin. Something I've never felt about anyone else before. It broke me when I found out what you did to yourself a few weeks back. I care about you, I want to keep you safe, I want to call you mine, I-I think I'm starting to fall in  love with you"

Ashton's breathing stuttered and a pink flush spread across his cheeks before he opened his mouth to speak.

"I've been in love with you since the day you saved me, Luke"

[A/N:] BOOM LASHTON HAVE OFFICIALLY TOLD EACH OTHER THEIR FEELINGS.

I really hope you guys enjoyed this, this was one of my favourite chapters to write !

There's plenty more fluff to come !

As always, thank you so much for reading, over 1K reads !  That's absolutely incredible, I cried haha

I love you all so much thank you thank you thank you, Byee (: