Romeo and Juliet: Modified , Lashton

Act 11: A Bathroom

"Ashton?" Calum stared at the sniffling boy who stood in front of him.

Ashton opened his mouth to speak, but only a whimper came out before he collapsed against Calum. The brunette just stood, shocked, for a moment before coming to his senses and entrapping Ashton in his arms. He backed them up into the bathroom, locking the door so no one would interrupt them. Then he leant up against the wall and slid to the ground with Ashton still in his hold.

"Shh, it's okay," Calum said softly as he combed through Ashton's curls.

Ashton just sobbed into the boy's shirt, leaving wet stains on the shoulder from where his giant tears soaked through. Calum brought Ashton up into his lap, so he was lying against him sideways with his legs laid out against the tile and his face in the crook of Calum's neck as Calum rubbed soothing circles on his thigh.

"It's alright, baby. I got you." Calum whispered into Ashton's ear.

"H-he hurt me! He d-did it a-again! He did this..."Ashton yelled as he cried harder into Calum's neck.

Calum could feel the tears rolling down his skin and cringed at the feeling but pushed it aside. That was unimportant compared to Ashton right now.

"Who darling? Who hurt you?" Calum asked calmly, hugging Ashton's body impossibly closer to him.

Ashton didn't reply, just cried harder until he couldn't breathe and his lungs felt on fire. He began to hyperventilate, choking on his own air basically. Ashton clutched his hand to his chest. He clawed at it in hopes that he could eventually rip out his heart.

Maybe he wouldn't hurt if he didn't have a heart.

"Ashton," Calum said calmly and seriously, gripping Ashton's other hand, "Calm down and breathe. You're going to knock yourself out crying so hard."

Ashton heeded his advice, sucking in deep breaths and letting them out. He repeated his actions until his breathing stabilised and the pain in his chest was nothing more than a dull sharpness.

Ashton sniffed, his nose stuffy from crying, then looked up at Calum with blood shot eyes. Calum smiled down at the boy and wiped the pad of his thumb underneath his eyes to get rid of excess tears that rolled down.

Ashton closed his eyes momentarily, letting out a sigh.

"Thank you." He said in a small voice, barely above a whisper, as his throat hurt from crying.

"Course." Was all Calum said before he planted a kiss on Ashton's forehead.

Ashton liked that feeling of soft lips brushing up against his skin, then leaving it slightly wet as they retracted.

They sat in silence for a few minutes as Ashton calmed down a bit more and Calum gathered his thoughts. Then, Calum finally asked Ashton the question he had been avoiding.

"What happened?"

Ashton tensed as the words left Calum's mouth.

He could lie, could make up a fake reason to coming running to the bathroom with tears streaming down his face. He could easily say that someone had said mean things to him or make up an imaginary boyfriend to blame. But, oddly, Ashton didn't want to lie to Calum.

So he didn't.

"It was Luke," He whispered, averting his eyes to look at his hands as they toyed with the hem of his shirt.

Calum sighed, "I guessed that."

Ashton worried, still not looking up at Calum. What if he had just mad Calum angry? What if Calum would take Luke's side and then Ashton would have no one but Michael to help him?

"I'm sorry." He said as more tears pricked his eyes.

"For what?" Calum asked. "It's not your fault. I knew Luke was up to something when I saw him last night."

Ashton looked at Calum, tilting his head to the side in confusion.

"It's nothing," Calum assure him with a smile.

It was gone, though, when he asked Ashton the next question.

"What did he do?"

Ashton stilled again in Calum's lap. He let out a breath before answering.

"So last night after you saved me- thank you, by the way," -Calum nodded and flashed a small smiled- "Well, after that, we won't home together with Harry. We stayed up a little while longer with my family and stuff, and he seemed like he really enjoyed it."

"Makes sense." Calum muttered. "Go on."

Ashton nodded, "Then mum told us to go to bed since it was a school night. But we didn't actually go to bed. We just spent the night talking. Like, actually talking. And he was so sweet. Not to mention that on Friday he actually came and found me to help me. I really thought he had changed."

Ashton's voice cracked and he had to take a moment to collect himself again.

"Then, this m-mornjng, we had just gotten out of the car and were heading to school when some kid he knew stopped up. He started spewing shit at us, and, granted, I didn't expect Luke to cost him reputation for me but he could have at least defended me in some way or avoided the guy. But, he didn't. No, he did something m-much worse." Ashton was on the verge of tears again.

"What did he do?" Calum whispered, as if he was too afraid to speak normally from fear it would shattered the fragile boy.

"He s-started calling me names and said I-I was disgusting. Why? Calum, why? I didn't do anything to him!" He practically yelled before bursting into tears again.

He flopped down on Calum again. Calum wrapped Ashton up in his arms as a mixture of emotions flooded through him.

Anger towards Luke for being such a conceited asshole. Sadness for Ashton as he didn't deserve this punishment for a crime he hadn't committed. And, a tinge of jealous at the fact that Ashton would cry over someone as idiotic as Luke. Surely, Calum could take care of a beauty like Ashton better than Luke ever could.

So, he devised a plan. A plan that would definitely have Ashton begging for him by the end of the month.

"Babe, it's okay." Calum soothed as he intertwined their fingers together, his other hand encircling Ashton.

Ashton just groaned, nodding his head against Calum's shoulder. The brunette frowned while watching the boy cry. It was heartbreaking, honestly, and anyone who made this angel-as Calum had decided that Ashton was now an angel sent from God himself to walk upon this earth- cry was truly an abomination.

Once Ashton had calmed down again, Calum to his opportunity to ask his next question:

"Ashton, do you like Luke?"

Ashton's eyes widened as he stared at Calum.

"What? No, of course not! Well, maybe. Just a little," He sighed, "Okay. Yes."

"Well I think I can change your mind." Calum said, smirking, then kissed Ashton's cheek.

***
Yo, it's 12 at night and instead of doing my science homeowork I'm updating and listening to 80's music because YOLO.

I'm sorry I just used that. I went from a 10 to a 2 real fast.

Go read my new Lashton book: Famous Last Words. It'll be good and you know it.

God, I'm so cocky. And so tired.

Good night my babies. Stay in school and don't do drugs. Stay Lovely. XXX -Hayley

Stay Lovely. XXX- Hayley