"Where are we going?" Luke asked from the passenger seat, his knee bouncing slightly, making it obvious that he was excited, he was impatient. Ashton chuckled, eyeing the boy up and down with a smile filled with admiration, "It's a surprise, you'll find out soon, baby boy."
The blonde blushed at the pet-name, before slumping down in his seat. He blew a puff of air from his mouth in annoyance, not liking that Ashton wouldn't reveal the secret, "Luke doesn't like surprises." He whined, "You can just tell him."
Ashton pressed his lips in a light smile, "Luke will just have to be a good boy and be patient," He spoke while placing his hand on the younger boy's knee, using his thumb to feel the soft fabric of his jeans, the other one gripping the steering wheel.
"What was stopping you 10 minutes ago?"
Ashton just shook his head, a sly smile plastered across his face.
The younger boy has always been impatient, about everything. Whether it was finding out what the homework was going to be, what he was going to be eating for dinner, or even the stupidest thing, waiting to take a shower. Luke hated to wait, he felt that there doesn't have to be an exact time put on everything. If you wanted to do something then why should you wait it out? This was something that usually got Luke into trouble, he would complain his parents ears off about waiting. Ashton didn't seem to mind though.
"Alright Lukey, what's your favorite song?"
Luke pouted as he tried to think, "One song? There's so many songs out there though!"
"How many do you think there are?"
Ashton knew exactly what he was doing. He was trying to get Luke's mind to settle down a bit so he wouldn't be so antsy. This was a trick Ashton's mother had played numerous times as the boy grew up.
"There's gotta be a least 100."
Ashton let out a laugh, a real laugh, not one of those fake ones that his mother pulled out in times like this. Not a laugh that is filled with secret doubt and disapproval. A real one, filled with passion and praise.
"Well, you aren't wrong." Ashton spoke, "Could you try to pick one?"
Luke took a breath, "I like the Beauty and the Beast one, you know, when they're dancing," A small smile was placed on Luke's face as he said that, "It calms me down."
"Music is beautiful like that." Ashton spoke.
Both of the two adored music with their entire heart, they loved how things that you would never be able to talk about, could be explained through lyrics and instruments. Music was like medicine, it was probably more effective, it had the power to turn at bad day into a good one, and both were forever grateful to have that remedy.
--
If you looked into Luke's eyes you could see the happiness that laid across them. Luke was probably the happiest he had ever been as he stood in that store. Yes, it was insanely cliche, and it might have been a bit risky for Ashton to bring him here, but it was all worth it since it made Luke happy.
The store was made for kids, there was no denying that, seeing that they were all running around. The walls had shelves filled with stuffed animals. The middle of the store housed isles of candy. This is what Luke imagined heaven to look like, "Wow," He spoke.
It never took much to excite Luke, he always found beauty in everything. Even objects that others who have grown so used to them would just ignore, like how the sky is blue or how the leaves fall to the ground. Luke thought it was all beautiful. Life was a beautiful, Luke always tried to remember, even during times of hardship.
Ashton placed his hand in the small of Luke's back, guiding him towards the wall of stuffed animals with a chuckle filled with adoration. Luke was in heaven, with his heaven. He felt his heart flutter as he thought about how Ashton must've put thought into this, the fact that he knew exactly where Luke would feel happy just made Luke feel so lucky.
"This wasn't a big push over was it? You seemed to love pengy.. and when I came over you didn't have much." Ashton spoke while rubbing his hand down Luke's back, making the boy feel every bit of anxiety from anything in his life leave his mind.
"No, this is.. wow."
Unexpectedly, the blond boy wrapped his arms around Ashton's torso, a large smile on his face, "Thank you Daddy," He whispers against the man.
The older boy chuckled, smiling fondly down at Luke. Ashton knew that everything he was doing was good for Luke, the blue eyed boy needed all of this. It was obvious that the sixteen year old barely received any attention, especially when he got excited over things like this, things that other kids his age would find lame. But Ashton didn't care that Luke was different, he loved the way he acted, and he wouldn't trade him for anything or anyone in the world.
"Why don't you go pick one or two out?" Ashton spoke while placing his hand in the small of the boy's back, giving him a small nudge towards the wall.
Luke hesitated for a moment, he glanced back at Ashton with a worried and scared look plastered across his face, "I-I.."
The hazel eyed boy raised his brow at the younger one, "What's wrong Lukey boy?"
Sadly, the teen's gaze fell to his hands as he mumbled, "I don't have enough money for any of these," He spoke.
Ashton should have guessed that the younger boy assumed he would pay for them himself, it was obvious Luke didn't have enough money, but it was also obvious that the boy didn't like taking money from others. Taking money from other people always made the young boy feel like such a burden, especially when the money was being spent on silly things like stuffed animals.
Growing up, Luke barely got luxuries. When he did ask, he always got a guilt trip that over the years made him scared to ask for anything. Now that Luke was older, he understood why his parents couldn't always give him everything he wanted. It was different with Ashton though, Ashton had money, lots of it, Luke didn't know that though because the boy was so wise with it.
"Angel, you could have all of the money in the world, and I still wouldn't expect you to pay," Ashton speaks while placing a finger on Luke's chin, forcing the boy to lock eyes with him, "Now either you go pick some stuffed animals out right now, or I'll do it for you," Ashton ran his fingers through the smaller boy's fringe, calming him down.
"B-but I need to pay you back somehow.."
Ashton sighed, knowing no matter how much he tried to convince the boy that he didn't need to pay back in any way, the boy would not back down, "Alright, how about this? Once we leave here I'm going to take you to your brother and you're going to make up with him," Ashton spoke with a risk, "Does that sound fair?"
"O-okay.. but are you sure it'll be enough to pay you back?" Luke asked timidly.
"Yes, now go," Ashton said while playfully giving the boy a small push, which caused him to giggle.
Ashton watched as the boy scanned through the stuffed animals, carefully picking them up to look at, then setting them down just as gently. The older boy chuckled as he heard faint "sorrys" being mumbled at the stuffed animals that Luke had put back. He knew he had found a keeper.
Luke glanced down towards the other end of the wall, there were pacifiers, lots of them. They were arranged in a multitude of colors and designs, Luke wanted one so badly, but he had no idea how to ask, and he didnt know if that crossed a line or not and if Ashton would find it to be too much. His thumb was his go to at this point, as unsanitary as it was.
Ashton must have noticed the look of distress that laid on the boy's face, "You can get one of those too, if you'd like."
The older one knew that this was all worth it, spending a little extra money on him, because the look on Luke's face was priceless as he spoke those words to him.
------
Once the two were settled back into Ashton's car, Luke excitedly grabbed both of the stuffed animals from the bag. Ashton watched affectionately as the boy smiled contently at the animals, petting their hair down. It had taken roughly fifteen minutes, but Luke had eventually decided on a stuffed giraffe and a stuffed bear, with much help from the older boy. Ashton had placed the dummy in his pocket, he had a feeling the small object would get lost if he didn't.
After a few moments of silence, Luke looked up as he felt eyes on his, "W-what?" he asked, a slight blush present on his cheeks as Ashton smiled at him.
"You, you're just too cute to handle," He replied, making Luke squeak as he covered his face with his way to long sleeves.
"Stop it," He whined while giggling.
Ashton chuckled while moving a stray piece of hair from Luke's eyes, before speaking up, "How about you tell what you named them?"
"This is Koda," Luke spoke with a smile as he cuddled the plush to his chest.
"Why did you name it that?" Ashton asked, making Luke narrow his eyes.
"Him, not it," He spoke.
Ashton laughed as Luke actually seemed bothered by it, "My apologizes, why did you name him that?" Ashton spoke, making sure to give emphasis on the word him.
Luke smiled, feeling satisfied, "I named him after the cub from brother bear," He spoke happily.
"And the giraffe?"
"I named him Arthur because I felt like it, he looks like an Arthur," He spoke simply, "Thank you for buying them for me, it really does mean a lot."
Ashton placed his hand on Luke's thigh, giving it a small squeeze, "Anything for you, baby boy."
Luke seemed happy, and that made Ashton happy. That has been his main goal since he first saw the fragile boy breakdown when they first met. It terrified Ashton that he hadn't known the boy for long, because he often found himself wondering who used to comfort him before he was around to do it. Or a worse thought: if anyone had even bothered to do it.
"I'd hate to drop the bomb, but we had a deal didn't we?" Ashton said while tightening his grip on the steering wheel, preparing himself for however Luke was going to react.
The blond let out a small whimper, making Ashton cringe, "But Daddy," Luke spoke, Ashton knew what he was trying to do by throwing that word in there, but he wasn't going to let the boy get away with it.
"Luke," Ashton warned, "I know you don't want to, but you need to talk to Jack, you might regret it one day if you don't."
"Okay." Luke spoke lightly, making Ashton raise his eyebrow. He thought Luke would have put up a bigger fight, but surprisingly, he didn't.
"Okay?"
"You're right, I need to talk to him," Luke said sadly, "But I really don't wanna stay there," Luke spoke.
"How about this, I can park down the street some and after you're done talking to him we can go back to my place, does that sound okay with you?"
Ashton didn't blame Luke for not wanting to be home, but what confused Ashton the most is how his parents didn't even care where their son was. The older boy thought Luke was the sweetest boy ever, he didn't understand why his family didn't care about him.
"Are your parents okay with all of this? I mean you haven't been home this weekend, and you've got school tomorrow.. how are they okay with not knowing where you're at?"
Luke frowns, he usually tries hard not to think much about how they don't care, because when he does it usually just makes him even more upset, it's useless to think about and he knows that it will never change, they are too used to acting that way to stop at this point.
"I just tell them that I'm staying with a friend, and they don't ask questions, they're fine with it." Luke spoke, slowly the lump at the back of his throat.
"Are you fine with it?" Ashton asked.
Luke shrugged, "I like staying with you, anything is better than staying in that house with them," Luke replied, "Sometimes it just.. hurts."
Ashton was now parked down the road from Luke's house, his hand was around Luke's shoulder trying his hardest to calm the boy before he even needed to, "Why does it hurt?"
"Your family is supposed to be the ones that are always there for you no matter what, but they never are." Luke bit his lip, before opening the car door.
"I- I should just go talk to him, and get it over with," Luke spoke while wiping his eyes.
He wasn't exactly in the correct mind set, right now all he wanted was to cuddle up with Ashton and watch movie, maybe even have the older boy give him a bottle, anything to make him able to not think about all the stress in his life.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Mhm." That's all Luke said before he got out of the vehicle, shutting the door behind him.
Ashton rolled the window down, "Wait!" He called out, making Luke look back, "I'll be waiting right here, okay?"
Luke just nodded, not trusting his voice.
----
Luke walked into the house, instantly pulling his sleeves over his hands. The house was freezing cold, that wasn't out of the ordinary, though, it was always cold. What was strange is that the normally quiet house, had a lot of commotion.
The blond ignored his father's greets, even though they weren't very much of greetings, greetings were supposed to be sincere. He headed straight towards Jack's room, opening the door.
The sickly boy looked up, expecting to see his father or mother standing there, but when his eyes met Luke's he quickly started shaking his head.
"Do you not remember what I said to you? What you said to me?" He said forcefully.
"Jack.. I just wanna talk." Luke spoke, tears coating over the tops of his eyes, "Please."
"I'm not talking to you about anything," Jack spoke while rolling over so his back was facing Luke.
Luke swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat. He tried to ignore the feeling of dread he felt just standing in that house, he hated it so much. He wanted to scream, he wanted to punch the walls that had imprisoned his mental health for so long. All he could do was stand there, and feel every tiny emotion that was building up within him.
"Luke, get out before I tell Dad about everything you said and leave him to deal with you." Jack spoke bitterly.
"Jack-"
"No, you leave, or I will." Luke continued to stand there, as if his feet were glued to the ground. Jack scoffed, throwing his blanket off of him.
"I-I'm leaving," Luke spoke quickly.
He wanted to get out of the hell hole as quick as possible. Tears were brimming over his eyes, and he most certainly wasn't going to cry in front of his father. He got out fast, walking down the sidewalk, well, more like running. All he really wanted right now was Ashton.
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authors note: I'm really happy to see that you guys are enjoying the story!! I've had it sitting in my drafts for such a long time, just scared to post it honestly because I never thought anyone would wanna read it. So seeing all the votes and feedback really makes my heart all happy <3 let me know if there's any special requests you'd like to see happen in this story and I can make it happen.
(I also wanna apologize for disappearing for so long, life got hectic so I just abandoned wattpad completely, but I'm back and I've missed it so much)