The Dead and The Blind [Lashton]

Day 535

It's really nothing but fate that Luke finds himself downstairs a few days later, flipping through Ashton's things while the boy is banging around in the bathroom.

Ashton had chosen the same bedroom that Michael, Calum, and Luke had lived in before him, so Luke's familiar with every square inch of it. The room looks strange with Ashton's things in it. The bedspread is pure white, which Luke figured only hotels had, but apparently he's wrong. Most of the furniture in the room is white, and Luke's suddenly glad he'd painted the walls a light blue when he'd moved in. Ashton might not care what the room looks like, but Luke does.

Everyday, Luke's noticed, Ashton gets home around 4:30 and drops his coat and backpack just inside his bedroom, next to the door. And every night, without fail, he trips over both items on his way to dinner. And every single morning, when Ashton's mother wakes him up, she grabs both items and carries them downstairs with the dumb dog trotting along behind her.

Luke's sitting on Ashton's bed, against his headboard, flipping through a photo album he'd taken from the living room, before coming upstairs. He likes flipping through Michael's photo album, mainly because there's cute pictures of Michael when he was younger, and his family looks so happy in all the pictures. Sometimes, Luke wonders how Michael's parents are, now. They don't have have a son, several of their possessions were stolen, and they'd been forced to move out of their house quickly.

Luke figures they're not doing too well.

He has nothing against Michael's parents, personally, except for how they tended to leave Michael alone for long periods of time. Which, looking back, turned from Michael video game playing time, to Michael's talk to dead boys haunting his attic time. Michael's parents leaving him alone forced him closer to Luke and Calum which, inevitably, caused their son's death.

Call Luke a sadist, but he's glad Michael's dead. He likes the boy (twist his arm), and he's glad Calum has someone else to bother, besides him. Spending a week straight with Calum, without any breaks or sleep, could drive anyone off the edge. So, Luke's really glad Michael's around to share the burden.

Luke flips a page in the photo album, just as the pipes from the ensuite bathroom start rattling and whistling, indicating Ashton's turned on the shower. The album drops to Luke's lap, blue eyes flitting towards the wide open door leading to the bathroom.

Michael's words come back to him, watching Ashton get himself off in the shower. Seeing Ashton's pretty pale eyes. Luke's curiosity spikes again. Sue him for wanting a look.

Luke shuts the album and sets it aside before drifting over to the bathroom, floating in so his feet scraping against the floor won't make a noise. The room is steaming up quickly from the heat radiating from the shower. Luke's trying really hard not to remember Calum's body floating to the edge of the pink water in the same tub Ashton's standing in, trying to forget how the bow of his blue lips had poked above the crest of the water after it had settles.

He shakes his head quickly and focuses on the task at hand. Ashton.

Luke takes a quick glance in the mirror to ensure that he's completely invisible (he's not sure he'll ever get used to looking in a mirror and seeing nothing, but it's helpful when he's creeping), then drifts towards the all white shower curtain. Actually, now that he thinks about it, nearly everything Ashton owns is white. He stocks his head through first, catching sight of Ashton under the shower spray, then drifts the rest of the way into the shower.

He presses his back against the far wall, away from the water, so he's slightly above the boy. Ashton's rubbing at his head, scrubbing bubbles out, while standing under the water spray. His eyes are closed, unfortunately for Luke, so he starts scanning over Ashton's body, instead. He's soft in his hips and waist, pudgy and squishy in a way that makes Luke smile slightly, with thick thighs and claves. Luke's tongue flicks over his bottom lip at the sight of Ashton's thighs. His legs in general, really. Luke's a leg man.

Just as Luke's about to size him up dick wise, Ashton's eyes flutter open and he steps out of the shower spray. His irises are pretty, they're pale hazel, like Michael had said with sparks of dull green and gold lighting them up in spots. Ashton turns around to face the water, giving Luke a very nice view of his perky ass when he bends down to shut the water off.

The sudden, screaming silence brings Luke out of Ashton filled daze and forces him to remember that he's watching the boy shower. Luke shudders at the thought, feeling skeevy and disgusting. Ashton pulls back the shower curtain and Luke shakes his head, jerking up and shooting through the ceiling above him.

He bursts into the attic and flicks his eyes around wildly.

Calum's laying across the couch with a huge grin on his face, directed straight at Luke. He'd died in the bathroom, so he has a special connection to the room, and knows exactly what's happening in there at all times. He obviously knows what Luke's been up to.

"So?" He hums.

Michael pops up from where he's laying against Calum's chest, eagerly looking over to Luke like he's about to give a report.

"Fuck off," Luke mutters.

"They're pretty, yeah?" Michael sits up, straddling Calum's hips unintentionally. Luke often wonders if they know how touchy feely they are, or if it's just second mature to them, at this point.

Luke can't even lie to them. "They're beautiful, " he breathes.