Caraphernelia (lashton au)

Hell Above

"This is a wasteland, my only retreat,

With heaven above you, there's hell over me.

The water is rusted, the air is unclean.

And there for a second I feel free,

This is a wasteland, my only retreat."

~ Hell Above by Pierce the Veil

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"You what?" Calum stared at Luke incredulously, making the boy wince.

Ashton had gone home a few hours ago, and once Calum came back from god knows where (literally), Luke was practically high on his love for Ashton and ended up spilling everything that happened between them to Calum.

"I had to tell him! It's not like Ashton's going to go fucking tell the world that angels exist, he wouldn't do that," Luke defended, making Calum huff in annoyance.

"Whatever. It's not even my problem, and if bad things happen as a result of you being an idiot, then don't expect help from me." Luke ignored Calum's cold tone of voice and picked up his guitar from where it leaned on the wall next to the couch he was sitting on.

As Calum strode away and prepared to leave again to go to work, Luke began to strum randomly,

"Calum's a fucking bitch, Calum's such a bitch, I don't know what crawled up his ass and died-" he sang off key to a made up tune, making Calum shake his head angrily, but Luke knew he internally thought it was funny.

"You're a fucking idiot, I'll be back later." Before he could shut the door completely and get his jacket on all the way, Luke called after him, suddenly remembering Ashton worked at the same place as Calum.

"Please don't say anything stupid to Ashton," Calum just shrugged, and then slammed the door behind him. Luke nervously bit his lip, knowing Calum could be extremely unforgiving when he's angry. Luke didn't even understand why Calum was so angry. Did he not trust Ashton? Luke sighed, plucking the strings on his guitar.

"Calum's a bitch..." he sang quietly to himself, feeling the happy mood Ashton created before deflate a little.

Hopefully Calum won't bother Ashton too much, although he couldn't guarantee anything. But, if he felt the need to, Luke knew that if he thought about Ashton intensely enough that he'd be able to have a mental image of where Ashton was and what he was doing.

Luke refrained from doing it, though, because it gave him massive headaches and he felt like a creepy stalker.

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Ashton awkwardly sat behind the desk in the video store, noticing that Calum wasn't there yet.

He didn't exactly look forward to seeing Calum, anyway. He was weird and confusing and Ashton wasn't sure if he was nice or not.

After a while of sitting around, the sound of the door opening made Ashton's head snap up, and he bit his lip nervously once he saw the dark-haired boy walk into the store. Calum looked tensed up, and his gaze didn't falter as he practically glared into Ashton's soul.

"H-hi?" Ashton squeaked as Calum stood right in front of the desk Ashton was sitting behind. He glowered down at the boy,

"Do you know anyone named Luke? Y'know, blonde, really tall and lanky, and, I don't know, an angel?" Calum snapped, making Ashton's heart speed up. How did he know who Luke was?

"Y-yeah, I do. Why?" Ignoring Ashton's question, Calum gritted his teeth.

"You haven't said anything to anyone that angels exist, right?" Calum almost sounded a little bit scared and vulnerable to Ashton-but he didn't say anything.

"I swear I haven't, I-I don't have anyone to tell it to, anyway." He stuttered, feeling even more like a loser in front of Calum, who seemed to be resisting the urge to grab Ashton by the shirt and punch him in the face. Although, it wasn't even Ashton's fault that Luke said anything.

Calum seemed to have dropped the subject once he got what he was looking for; the whole store filled with awkward tension. For once, they both hoped someone would actually come in there as a costumer. Anything to make the silence less painful.

"How do you know Luke?" Ashton bravely spoke up, hating how the question was burning in the back of his mind. Calum nonchalantly browsed through some of the movies in the horror section, making Ashton feel like he was just going to ignore the question.

"We're friends. I'm an angel, too." He finally spoke up, making Ashton even more curious and have more questions. How many more angels were living on earth? Were they all friends? Did they all have black wings like Luke? Ashton didn't mention these questions, in fear Calum would get pissed off.

Ashton decided he didn't really like Calum, but he was still willing to give him a chance, since he's friends with Luke.

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"He didn't do anything bad, did he?" Luke's sweet voice was like music to Ashton's ears. Calum reminded him of when he was in school, and he hated that. School was his own personal hell.

The field that Ashton had stumbled upon had become a place where they meet up when the sun is close to setting, when everything else they had to do that day was done. (Like, in Ashton's case, going to work and taking care of his sassy cat, Michael, back at his apartment.)

Ashton told Luke about how he knew Calum, and Luke admitted he already knew that. What didn't Luke know about Ashton?

"N-no, I mean-he seemed pretty pissed off and he got kind of mad at me, but he didn't do much else." Ashton shrugged it off like it was nothing, but Luke looked unsettled.

"I'll talk to him when I get back-" Ashton felt guilty and quickly interjected,

"It's okay, you don't have to. Everything's fine." Luke looked down at him worriedly,

"Don't feel guilty about it, Ash," he nudged their shoulders together, making a smile and a blush break out on Ashton's face.

"How do you always know what I'm thinking?"

"I'm an angel, duh!" Luke joked, causing a giggle to slip passed Ashton's mouth. Luke bit his lip, looking down at the boy fondly,

"Your laugh is so cute," Ashton shook his head, avoiding Luke's gaze.

"I think it's annoying, honestly." Feeling Luke's eyes on him, Ashton looked at him and smiled faintly. For a few moments, nothing was said as they simply enjoyed the silence.

"You know, I never did end up taking you somewhere like I promised," Luke mused thoughtfully, the slowly setting sun casting a shadow on his face, making his facial structure more defined. And Ashton couldn't help but stare and wonder, why would someone this attractive even acknowledge his existence? "And if you're not busy..." Luke trailed off, playing around with the silver ring on his pinky finger.

"Okay." Ashton agreed to Luke's half statement, trying not to smile like an idiot. But Luke let his smile plaster on his face as he stood up and brushed off crumbly dirt and blades of grass off his pants, offering a hand to Ashton. Ashton couldn't help but blush and smile widely as Luke helped him up.

"Prepare to have the best date of your entire life," Luke grinned smugly.

"D-date?"

"Yeah, why not? You're cute, so I'd like to think I'm taking you on a date." Ashton giggled, his cheeks turning pink.

"Whatever makes you happy, Luke."

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I love how Michael is literally a kitten in this story oh my god

I never really ask what you guys think after the chapters of any of my stories, but maybe now I will idk you guys are cool

Predictions?

Thoughts on Calum?

Thoughts on anything at all? Idk

Bye guysss ~Hannah