home town • ashton irwin ((currently on hold))

4. "what we're here for"

michael turned his head to face ashton, who was laying back on the grass, staring at the sky with an indistinguishable expression on his face.

calum and luke were a few meters away from them, calum trying hard to teach luke how to do some football trick, luke completely uncoordinated and falling over his own feet every two minutes, both covered in grass stains and ecstatic to finally be back home together again.

michael hadn't wanted to play football - he never really wanted to play football, preferring to just yell at his friends as they played; a one man crowd.

ashton had joined them later in the afternoon, having spent the morning with his mum.

it had been a terrifying prospect, to see his teenage bedroom again, with all the pictures of him and sofia that he hadn't taken with him on tour, the polaroids he'd taken of her when they'd gone camping together for his eighteenth birthday, the sweaters that were folded in the back of his drawers that still smelled like her perfume, the dents in the mattress where they used to lay now disappeared, as if they'd never been there.

"what are you thinking about man?" michael asked softly.

ashton sat up and shrugged, turning to face his red-headed friend with a wry smile on his face.

"just actually being back; being here in the park after seeing her. i think i'm just not used to it yet."

michael smiled sadly at the quietness of ashton's voice, wishing he could understand what the boy was going through so he could help better.

"we're going back in a couple of days man. are you sure you're going to be ready?"

ashton bit down on his lower lip, breaking eye contact as a shock of anxiety twisted in his chest at the thought of seeing sofia again.

"honestly, not really, but i want to see her too much not to go."

michael grinned, reaching out to wrap his arm around ashton's shoulder and pulling the older boy closer to him, eliciting a genuine smile from him.

"that's the spirit man. we'll go to the hospital, i'll get my eye patch removed and you'll see sofia. taking on the world one step at a time."

ashton laughed at michael's optimism, leaning his head on the boy's shoulder.

"we should probably get the soccer stars." he spoke up, grinning as michael snorted in response, both of them watching luke fall into a heap on the grass after tripping over his own laces.

"yeah. luke's mum will be really pissed if we're late to this barbecue. it's the first time we've all been home together." ashton lifted himself off of the grass as he spoke, pulling michael up with him as they made their way over to calum and luke; the latter still laying on the grass while calum was doubled over with laughter.

"did you guys fucking see that?" calum wheezed, the only response from luke being a mixture of a groan and a laugh from his position on the floor.

"yeah, and we'll also see liz smacking you around the head with a fly swat if we don't get to hers soon - i have two missed calls from my mum." michael winced as he checked his phone, reading through his mother's overly concerned texts - she had been especially protective since the fire incident.

ashton helped pull luke off of the grass, the tall boy almost stumbling face first into the ground again with the force.

he straightened himself up, brushing imaginary dust off his shoulders and grinning.

"i'm definitely ready for a mum's united barbecue." luke said, following as the other three boys began to walk up the small slope to the path that lead out of the park. "i've missed eating at home."