~ This is shit and I am shit and my legs hurt and I've been so so so down for the past week and i'm just very lonely but I felt like I should update so sorry it sucks. A lot.
Oh and Ashton’s younger than the others, and shorter ~
Ashton remembers his first day at work. He remembers walking through the long halls of the hotel, listening to his new boss telling him about the rules and what Ashton’s supposed to do. He wasn’t really paying attention though, he couldn’t help but find the people surrounding him more interesting. There were so many people there, people speaking languages Ashton could only ever dream of understanding, people smiling and people simply standing there. Most of them were obviously guests, but there were quite a few people wearing the hotel’s uniform as well.
“now, if there are no further questions I’m going to leave you with Calum. Calum, get over here!” he waved to get the attention of a tall boy, much taller than Ashton, with dark hair and a very beautiful smile. The boy, Calum, came over, looking about as attractive as humanly possible while wearing a two sizes too small, green dress shirt under a black vest.
“yes boss?” Calum smiled, reminding Ashton of an excited puppy, as he reached them. “hello, I’m Calum.” he held his hand out for Ashton to shake and Ashton did so, telling Calum his name with a voice he would’ve wished was a bit louder, a bit more confident.
“do you think you could get Ashton here a uniform and help him get situated here, maybe give him the unofficial tour so he knows his way around the place by tomorrow?”
“sure thing, come on Ashton.” and Ashton had been left with no choice but to follow the older boy through a door leading away from the lobby.
~
It took Ashton a week to get used to the hotel and during those first five days he got lost more often than he would have wanted. He learned, however, and soon fell in love with his job. He loves talking to the guests as he helps them, loves everyone he works with. He doesn’t even care about the long days or the fact that he rarely gets a chance to sit for more than five minutes a day.
The best part of his job, however, is something he’s soon about to discover, something he’s completely unaware of as he’s making his way down the hall on the seventh floor, whistling to himself. It’s only been a week and he’s constantly meeting new co-workers, people that had the previous week off, but he hasn’t bounded with anyone yet. Sure, Calum’s a pretty good friend but the older boy has other friends, and a girlfriend, on the cleaning crew and he spends most of his breaks with them. And since Ashton’s never been one to eat alone, he spends his breaks just wandering around the hotel, memorising every room and supply closet and emergency exit. Today, though, today he doesn’t feel like walking around. His thighs are aching from the time he spent at the gym last night and he’s desperate for some time to sit down. Turns out going to the break room today was one of the best decisions he’s made all year.
He notices the boy the minute he enters the room, something that really isn’t that weird considering the fact that he has blue hair, and not just black blue, it’s really really blue. One would think it’d look bad along with the green shirt, but it doesn’t. Ashton quickly looks away when the boy turns around, but not before he sees just how green the boy’s eyes are, even from all the way across the room. Blushing, Ashton makes his way over to the refrigerator, where he grabs a small bag containing a sandwich and a cookie.
“Hi!” the voice makes Ashton jump and he almost drops the bag. The boy, the one with the blue hair, has appeared next to Ashton. “oh sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” he smiles and Ashton, who’s been convinced no one could possibly look better than Calum in a uniform, is proven wrong. “I’m Michael.”
“A-ashton.” Michael’s shirt is too big rather than too small like most of them and it makes him look skinnier than he probably is.
“Hi Ashton, you’re new here right?” Ashton nods and before he knows it, Michael’s pulling him over to a table and sitting down.
~
Fast forward a month and a half and Ashton has found himself absolutely amazed by the blue haired boy. He now spends every lunch break in the break room with Michael, talking and laughing and getting to know him better. Michael is one of the most popular people working at the hotel and everybody seem to love him, co-workers, guests and bosses all love him, and occasionally they’re joined by other people. Ashton doesn’t mind this, not at all, but he prefers the times when it’s just him and Michael.
“Ashy!” Ashton can’t help but smile at the nickname and he turns around, finding Michael almost running down the wall towards him. “I missed you so much!” the moment Michael reaches him, he wraps his arms around Ashton and pulls him in for a hug.
“I was only gone for a few days jeez.” Ashton says, laughing as he breathes in Michael’s smell, perfectly happy with where he is.
“I know but a weekend is such a long time.” Michael whines, resting his chin on the top of Ashton’s head.
“it really isn’t though.” Ashton points out and now it’s Michael’s turn to laugh as he lets go of the smaller boy.
“whatever. I’ll see you at lunch yeah?”
“of course.” and with that, Michael turns around, leaving Ashton to stare at his blue head as he disappears down the hall.
Lates that day, when he enters the break room, Ashton finds Michael sitting at their usual table along with a tall, blonde boy.
“Ashton! This is Luke, you know Luke right?” Michael smiles when Ashton appears, sitting down next to him, and Ashton nods. He’s talked to Luke a few times and he likes the guy, he seems nice enough.
“Hi.” Luke smiles at Ashton before going back to talking to Michael about something that apparently happened in the kitchen earlier. From what Ashton understands, Luke works with washing the dishes down there and from the sound of it, it’s the best job one can have. Now, Ashton’s not saying he’s wrong, but he doesn’t understand why anyone would want to work there when you can spend your days actually meeting people and helping them, but that’s just him.
The break passes by with the three of them talking about anything that comes to mind and it’s all going find, Ashton’s really warming up to Luke, but Michael soon has to leave, leaving Ashton and Luke alone, and after that things get a bit...different. They’re still talking and Ashton’s really starting to like Luke, but it’s when he accidentally mentions his nickname for the blue haired boy and Luke immediately picks up on it that things starts to feel weird. It almost makes Ashton regret telling Luke about it.
~
The three of them eats together for the next three days and Ashton often finds himself listening to Michael and Luke having the kind of conversations he used to have with the green eyes boy, the kind that would have Calum, on the rare occasions when he dropped by, tell them to just get married already, while he sits there in silence, stirring his coffee. He doesn’t really mind though, since he’d give everything to get to hang out with Michael and since he really really likes Luke as well. It’s just that he often feels left out, and the fact that neither of them makes any effort to bring him into the conversation makes it worse.
And then came the day when Ashton was a bit late to the break room, having been held up after helping a lady with getting a cab. He entered the room as usual but something makes him stop when his eyes land on the two boys by the table in the corner. They’re talking about something that appears to be very funny, because Michael’s about to fall off his chair from laughing so hard. Ashton sighs, something breaking inside him, and turns around to leave. It’s always been like this, he always finds someone and gets really close to them just to then realise that they’d be perfectly fine without him. Ever since he was twelve and his best friend at the time told him to fuck off, he’s been looking for someone to call his best friend, someone who’d always pick him over everyone else, someone who’d make him feel like he really belonged. He thought he saw that in Michael, but then Luke came along, even though Luke’s probably known Michael for twice as long as Ashton has, and everything changed. Ashton realised that Michael would be fine without him and it hurt him more that he expected. And so he left.
~
A few days passes by. Ashton spends his time alone, sitting on the roof while eating, hoping he’ll be able to forget, or at least get over, the realisation he had. Michael hasn’t been asking for him, from what he’s heard, and neither has Luke.
“They probably haven’t even noticed.” Ashton whispers to himself, sighing. He’s never been one to tell someone when he’s feeling down. Instead, he just leaves, hoping someone will notice that he’s gone and come looking for him, show him that they care. That, of course, never happens. That’s just how it is, it’s something he’s been trying to accept for years. People don’t care. He’s no one’s first choice, he’s just someone they hang around with until someone better comes along.
And if he’s being perfectly honest, he doesn’t blame them. He’d do the same.