Close Your Eyes (5SOS)

Unnecessary

Michael checks every bathroom, closet, and empty exam room before finding Ashton in his car listening to music. He taps on the passenger window. Ashton rolls down the window and turns down the music, watching him carefully.

Movements slow and deliberate, Michael reaches down and unlocks the door, opens it, and gets in, then rolls up the window. When he's sitting, he notices Ashton's eyes are slick and red-rimmed. He's been crying.

Michael barely gets a word out before he's at it again, tears spilling down his cheeks, shoulders shaking, face hidden behind his hands. Mikey goes into paternal mode, wrapping his arms around him. "Sh, sh, Ash. It's okay, it's just me. Just your good friend Mikey. Are you hurt?"

"I-I can't. I can't d-do it, Mikey,"

"What can't you do?"

Ashton sniffs. "Go back in."

"How come?"

Michael rubs his back for a bit while his shoulders shake and he cries silently into his hands. Then Ashton sucks in a big, shaky breath and says, "It'll hurt. And I'm scared."

Michael's quiet. "Of me? Did something happen?"

"Like w-what?" Ashton hiccups in the middle of his sentence.

"Like what happened with Calum freaked you out. Or . . . past abuse,"

He seems to be stopping crying. "What counts as abuse?"

"Can you tell me what happened?"

Ashton covers his face again. "There's a word for it. Doing stuff they didn't have to,"

"Unnecessary procedures. Definitely abuse,"

Silence.

"Ash," Michael's voice is strained. "I hate to ask, but was there any anesthesia involved?"

"Anesthesia," Ashton repeats, not understanding.

"Anything to help you be more comfortable. Like the injections I gave Calum so he wouldn't feel the pain. Or the nitrous to help him relax,"

Ashton shakes his head. "I . . . I felt everything."

"And you're scared the same thing's going to happen with me,"

His head nods.

"Ash, I want you to come back with me, okay?"

"No," his voice is quiet, but firm.

"Please?"

"No,"

Michael gives him the best puppy dog eyes he can manage. "Please? I just want to make sure you're healthy."

"No. No. No, I am healthy," still just as quiet, though a little less firm. "I don't need somebody to stick metal in my mouth to know that."

"Then it won't be a problem, will it?"

"No. I won't do it,"

"Ashton, when you marry Grace, she'll drag you along all the time,"

His ears turn pink. "How do you know about the ring?"

Michael winks. "I've seen the way you two look at each other. Come on, Ash, let's go."

Ashton grips the steering wheel. "Wait. I'll go, I just . . . will you tell me what you're gonna do?"

Michael slides his arm around him again, rubbing his back. "We'll go back into the room with Grace and Luke and Cal, and I'll start an exam. We'll go really slow and I'll talk you through the whole thing, and Grace will hold your hand,"