Needy (Lashton) (AU)

Chapter 15

"How did it go?" Ashton asked as Luke got into the car, the boy ignored him and simply looked out the window. He tried to keep a straight face, but failed as tears continued to fall down his cheeks at a fast rate.

Luke felt like such a failure, all he wanted was for Jack to forgive him. Luke didn't even think all of this was his fault, they were arguing because of Jack's negativity; if anyone should apologize it should be Jack, that's what Luke thought. He also thought that maybe all of this was just an excuse, maybe his family did hate him and they wanted to take any reason they could find to make their hate seem understandable.

"Luke," Ashton spoke while rising from his seat, he got as close as he could to the younger boy before speaking, "Don't block me out, tell me what happened back there."

"Just drive, please," Luke spoke weakly.

Ashton took that as a cue to not push the boy into speaking, he knew that it would just make him even more upset, and Luke didn't need that.

The rest of the car ride was silent, except for Luke's occasional whimpers, and Ashton trying to lightly comfort him.

"Go inside and lay down, I'll be in there in a moment, okay?"

Luke didn't respond, he just wiped his eyes and nodded weakly, rushing inside. The older one sighed deeply, grabbing the bag that contained the two stuffed animals in it, and pulling the pacifier from his pocket, unwrapping it because he knew Luke would most definitely want it now.

As much as he knew it wasn't his fault, Ashton still felt that in a way it was. He was the one who told Luke he had to talk things through with Jack, and look where that got them. He took a breath before heading inside.

When he reached his bedroom, Luke was curled into a ball, obvious tear tracks were vibrant against his pale skin.

"You left some friends behind," Ashton spoke while putting the two animals next to Luke, who made grabby hands.

Ashton chuckled, giving him the bear and giraffe, but Luke whined, "Not them, want' you," He mumbled.

This was a pattern Ashton had started to get the hang of, every time Luke got upset about something he would fall into headspace. And yes, there were some days where he wasn't sad at all, and he'd still be in it. But when he was sad, he fell hard. In a way, Luke was always in that headspace, it just got mistaken for him being quiet and innocent. Luke never acted his age, and when he got upset, it seemed even worse. But it was always there, you just had to look closer than most people were.

The older of the two climbed into bed, pulling Luke to his chest, and right as he did that, the boy let out a long stream of tears. It wasn't light crying either, it was heavy breathing, sobs. Ashton felt his heart ache.

"Shh," He spoke, rubbing his hands up and down Luke's back, which helped a little bit.

"Daddy, it h-hurts!" He whimpered, he was still crying, but not as hard. The boy had his fists bawled up and latched onto the front of Ashton's shirt. His grip was so tight, that Ashton was beginning to think he'd end up ripping it.

Ashton tried his hardest to not panic at how loud and upset Luke was, instead he just sat up some so he could rock the boy back and forth.

"He's your brother, he should be the one listening to you especially when you are trying your best to make the situation better," Ashton spoke in a soft tone "But if he can't hear you out and accept your apologies, then he isn't worth it," Ashton spoke gently into Luke's ear, trying to be extra quiet because he knew that if he was to loud it would be too much for Luke to handle.

"You're always going to have me, okay? If things ever feel too much you just tell me, and we can talk it out, I will listen." Ashton kept going.

At this point, Luke's eyes were closed tightly. He was trying his hardest to calm down, and he was trying his hardest to block out what had happened. He bit his lip as he focused on Ashton's heart beat in front of him.