A/N: I suck dick at updating ._. So sorry.
After some careful consideration Luke had decided that they need to move forward with the plan, Ashton was naturally still not into it because of his minor crush on Luke but he couldn't word his opinion because that would mean telling Luke about his feelings.
Ashton glanced up to the framed photo on his wall where Luke's stupid step-by-step guide was, there was no evidence that the paper was even taped there but it's almost like the carelessly scribbled letters were burning right through the photo, Ashton knew what it read.
2. Ultra super casual touches (intentional arm brushes, etc.)
Ashton scowled, at the photo for a long moment and ended up thinking back to the moment he had with Luke in the greenhouse. It had been magical, Luke spent five minutes explaining how self sufficient the garden was and how he really didn't need to do anything except supply a little bit of water when needed, thankfully he thought to bring a small bee hive to the roof so that the flowers remained pollinated.
When they left the greenhouse, it appeared that the halls had been emptied of all life and it occurred to Ashton that he hadn't even heard the bell in the small glass confined room even though it was more than possible to hear the damned ringing from four blocks away.
Just their luck, they ran into one of Luke's smoker friends on the way down the barely used hall that leads to the roof. Which, unfortunately, also happened to be the go-to place for couples because the walls were occupied by three different janitors' closets. Which reeked of chemicals and romance, with the obvious signs of disuse all over the confined space.
The hall was also neglected to the max, the staff didn't even bother to clean this wing of the school. There were scrunched cigarettes pushed along the edges of the hall and minor graffiti tags up and down the lockers. The ideal place for any smoker/rule breaker.
Which is exactly why they ran into Trick.
"Aye 'emmo! Didn't expect to see you down this way." The boy greeted, flicking his cigarette off to the side as he went to greet his friend.
"That's a shame, they really should fix those," he said as he approached the two boys, glancing up at the fire alarm overhead. "Might be a problem if we have a real fire."
Something about his grin unsettled Ashton, it twitched slightly and he had a special glint in his eyes that spelled out trouble in capital letters.
"Hey, what's Ickle Irwin doing with you? Shouldn't he be in class?" His voice was teasing, he didn't even bother to look toward the shorter boy as he directed the question toward Luke.
"We were just on our way actually," Luke said in a tight voice, obviously not too thrilled with the meet up.
"Stick In The Mud Irwin and Bad Boy Puke havin' a little fun, eh?" The other boy asked, quick to follow up his question with several vulgar gestures that made Ashton want to look anywhere else but at Trick.
"Maybe we did, now can we leave?" Luke said, obviously annoyed at this point. He takes a moment to stand up straight, revealing his true height and Ashton was a little surprised how tall Luke was.
Sure, he knew Luke was tall but he was used to Luke's slouchiness and the boy was constantly leaning on whatever he could find.
"Yeah," Trick said, it sounded like a bit of a question, "Yeah, whatever man, I was just walking up here to meet with Silvana," he snickers when the sound of heels could be heard.
"Oh hey Lucas!" A cheery voice all but sang once she was in view.
Silvana was probably one of the nicest girls in the school, she had the super model good looks and changed her hairstyle every month. Last week she had some of the best curls, this week she had her long black hair straightened and a large portion above her ear was braided in a cool pattern. She was often seen wearing floral skirts and simple long sleeve shirts.
"Hello to you too, Sil." Luke greeted, followed by a extremely subtle eye roll.
You see, Silvana was one of the nicest girls and she wasn't one to brag, but she's kind of known among guys for her....talents.
And she's been wanting to show Luke her talents for a long time, even though everyone and their mother knows he's gay.
"Hey Ash," she continued, choosing to ignore Luke and his asshole attitude.
"Hi," the boy mumbled, looking down at his feet with a slight blush. Crushes don't really seem to fade all that well, even though Ashton did not have feelings for Luke in the slightest, he still blushed when Silvana talked to him. But honestly she talked to everyone so it wasn't even that special.
"Goodbye," Luke said loudly, grabbing my hand and walking quickly down the hall and around the first corner that came into view.
Unfortunately, that hall had Mr. Louse's class in it. Now Mr. L was a real jerk, it didn't matter if he was in the middle of a lecture, watching a presentation put on by one of his students, he would race out of his classroom and ask any student for a hall pass.
Luke and Ashton obviously didn't have a hall pass.
"Hey you!" Mr. Louse yelled right on cue, doing the old man speed walk towards the two boys. There was a significant height difference between the teacher and the students. He wasn't even up to Ashton's shoulder.
"Hall pass?" Mr. L inquired, looking from Ashton to Luke expectantly.
"Oh yeah, sorry," Luke mumbled, stuffing his hand into his back pocket and retrieving a piece of lamented bright orange paper.
Ashton raised his eyebrows at Luke, obviously not expecting the boy to have a hall pass but not exactly putting it passed Luke to steal one.
"Close, but no cigar. You used the wrong font, Hemmings." Mr. L all but sneered, handing the faux hall pass back.
"Detention for both of you," He continued excitedly, happily filling out the slips and handing them to each boy.
"Looks like we're walking home," Luke said once they were walking again, "You should probably get to class, Nerd Bucket, wouldn't want to miss out on the homework." He grinned, pinching Ashton's cheek teasingly.
"Fuck off," Ashton laughed, bumping shoulders with the taller lad.
✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩
"Welcome to detention," A teacher Ashton had never seen before greeted three seconds before he was even through the door. He was a little confused if the teacher was talking to him at first because he was checking to make sure he had the right room.
He handed in his detention slip and sat down, cleverly avoiding the few football players and a loner that looked like he hadn't seen the outside of this room in a long time.
Luke walked in several long minutes later, scanning the room before flashing a smirk at Ashton and making his way over, dropping a crumpled detention slip on the teacher's desk as he went.
"Hemmings, you know the rules." The teacher drawled, not looking up from the book she was reading.
"Yes Ma'am," Luke chirped, looking a tad bit disappointed but took a seat three desks away from Ashton. Which was practically across the room because each desk was separated by a large gap.
A half hour went by in slow motion, but the teacher broke the spell.
"I'm going to go get some food, anyone leaves and you'll be serving another detention." She gave a pointed look at Luke who's mouth only curved up into a smirk.
As soon as she was out of view Luke was across the room and scooting Ashton over in his seat so he could sit down too.
"How're you?" He whispered in Ashton's ear unexpectedly.
Ashton just ended up giggling because Luke's breath tickled.
"Love birds!" A footie player sang, observing the two while his friends laughed.
"Ignore them," Luke sighed, but didn't break eye contact with Ashton. They were suspended in time, just staring at each other.
Suddenly Ashton became very aware of Luke's lips, without realizing exactly what he was doing, Ashton's full attention was now on Luke's very pink lips.
He briefly registered Luke saying something but he couldn't remember what it was.
Eventually Luke's lips stopped forming words, he paused, all of a sudden Ashton was aware of Luke leaning in closer. Luke's lips had a slight pout to them that Ashton had never seen before.
"Detention's over!" The teacher announced suddenly, picking up her book and ushering the students out the door. Ashton and Luke jumped apart quickly, both equally confused as to what would have happened if they hadn't been interrupted.
✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩
Ashton sighed, glancing at the clock with a huff.
School just didn't seem worth it today, and so he pulled out his phone.
"Luke, I'm not feeling well. I'm going to stay home today," Ashton said once Luke answered the phone, ending his spiel with several fake coughs to prove his point.
"Boo, you whore." Luke replied before hanging up on him.
And so Ashton went back to sleep.