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by Amory9413

by Amory9413

*TRIGGER WARNING*

Still smirking I continue to look down at my phone mindlessly playing flappy bird, paying no attention to Josh stomping over to me. I'm then grabbed by my arm and picked up from my spot, just to be pushed to the ground. "You've got some guts Hemmings, talking to me like that." He sneers. I start picking myself up off the ground just to be pushed back down again. "Dude Josh, what the fuck let me up." "Not until you get some respect Hemmings!" he raises his voice again, this time I forcefully push myself up and shove past him, to start walking out of the lunch room.

Just as I'm about to walk out, I feel a hand grab my arm spinning me around just to be met with a fist to my face. Slightly dazed and groaning in pain, I turn to face the person that hit me. Seeing Josh with a grin on his face. "That will set you straight." He smirks, going to walk away but I won't stand for that. "Hey, Josh" I say, through clenched teeth. "What could you possibly w-" he's cut off by my fist to his face. "Maybe that will set you straight. Considering I'm not." I say to the groaning boy now on the ground. I leave the lunch room not wanting anymore drama then there is already going to be, and walk into the bathroom; to clean up my face.

Entering the bathroom I can hear the soft cries of someone in the stall to the right of me. "Hello, anyone there?" I ask, not knowing who would be crying in the boys bathroom. As I speak the crying stops, causing me to pause and everything goes dead silent. "Hello, who's in there? You don't have to be afraid, I won't judge I promise, I'm not like them." I silently wait to see if the mystery person will answer, and sigh in relief. But soon that happiness washes away when- "Yea Luke, it's Ashton."

"Ashton? What's the matter why are you..?" I ask, not caring to finish. "It's nothing just go." He presses but I'm not going to stand for it. I crouch down looking under the stall and I gasp. Small droplets of blood drip down onto the floor and I begin to freak out. "Ash you need to let me in. Right now." "No Luke! Just go away!" he says, a little louder. "Ashton I swear to god I will crawl under the door." I tell him completely serious. "No Luke don-" I crouch down and begin pulling myself under the stall. I look up only meeting the fearful eyes of a crying Ashton, toilet paper pressed to his wrists. My eyes trail down to his covered wrists as I begin to tear up. "No." No, no, no, no. You can't no." My voice cracks. He looks up and gasps. "Oh my god Luke what happened to your face?" "Fuck what happened to me Ashton why?" I look down at his bloody wrists. I grab more toilet paper and wipe up the blood on the floor, standing up I unlock the door stepping out.

"Stay right there." I tell him, turning around to grab paper towel and bring it back to him.

I grab the paper towel and walk back over to the stall. "Ashton open up, we can close the door once I'm in but I'm not crawling back on this nasty floor." I say, slightly knocking on the door. With a small sniffle I hear the click of the lock on the stall, pushing the door open I'm faced with a teary eyed and bloodied boy. I reach up and press the paper towel to his wrist causing him to flinch. "Why?" Is all I ask. Ashton looks up meeting my eyes and just shrugs.

"We need to get you to the nurse Ash," I tell him as his eyes fill with fear, " they have the supplies to make sure you're going to be okay." "No Luke." He looks up at me, fear in his eyes. "They can't know, nobody can know. They make fun of me enough already. I can't take anymore Luke, just leave me alone." He pleads. "I just can't Luke I can't, they don't stop." His glossy, fearful eyes look up at me. I sigh, "come here" He stands up walking over, I press the thin paper to his wrist as he flinches.

"I'm sorry." I tell him, pain tearing through my chest. "I'm so sorry." My voice cracks. Tears begin to fall as I pull him into chest, I feel him stiffen but slowly relax. "I'm so sorry this is happening, Ash." He back up putting his hand on my shoulder, "hey, hey don't cry." He tells me, smiling as he wipes away a stray tear of mine. "I'll be fine Luke, I've been dealing with this for years." He tells me. "That doesn't make it any better Ash, what do you say we just go back to mine for the rest of the day? My parents won't be back until tomorrow morning because they work late." I ask, trying not to seem awkward. He looks back up at me with a small smile, melting away any of the fear that I had previously felt. "That sounds great." He says looking down to his shoes. "Great let's go!" I say, gabbing his arm and walking out of the bathroom.

On our way to the exit I see Josh standing by his locker. I look down and pull Ashton a little bit faster trying to avoid any contact whatsoever. "Hemmings!" He yells, I just keep walking until his hand comes in contact with my chest. "Move Josh, we're leaving." I say, attempting to be stern. "Where are you going with this freak? Huh Hemmings? You gonna go hook up? Maybe you could try and fix him!" He laughs. "Shut it Josh and move." I say, pushing past him, taking Ashton along with me.

On our way to the door Josh grabs Ashton's wrist, causing him to flinch. "Oh little emo boy," he fakes sympathy. "Someone gonna go home and try to commit again?" He laughs. "Maybe you'll actually go through with it this time." Anger courses through my body as I grab Josh by the front of his shirt, pushing him up against the lockers. "Shut the fuck up." I seethe through my teeth. His eyes widen at the anger in my voice as he quickly backtracks. "Dude what the fuck, I'm sorry go have fun with your freak." He tells me. "He's not a freak and if I hear that word come out of your mouth again, I'll make sure you aren't speaking to anyone for quite a while." I tell him, pushing him hard against the metal behind him and grabbing Ashton's hand, walking out the front door.

"I'm sorry Ashton, I didn't mean to act like they in front of you its just they were being so mean and I-" Ashton cuts me off by hugging me. "Don't apologize Luke, what you did was stand up for me and nobody has ever done that before. Thank you Luke, it means a lot." He says, his face buried in my chest. Slightly pulling back I say, "so um how about we get back to mine, yeah? I can make us some food or we can just hang out, whichever you would like." He just smiles, nodding his head. As we start walking he takes his hand in mine, I feel him tense as he waits for my reaction. I smile and give his hand a reassuring squeeze, and we were on our way.

'''''''''''''

Making our way to my front door Ash and I jokingly argue. "No Luke, I'm telling you I absolutely blow at playing FIFA." He laughs, it's a beautiful sound. "There is no way someone could be so bad at FIFA its so simple!" I argue, making him laugh again. "I'm just being honest about how terrible I am at it." He says, as I open my front door. "Welcome to my humble abode." I say, spreading my arms out wide in a joking manner. He smiles, stepping inside. and looking around. "Nice place you got here, Luke." He giggles, his eyes searching the house. "Thanks," I laugh. "How about we go up to my room and just hang out, we can talk about today too." I mention and he looks down, slowly nodding his head. I grab his hand and begin walking up the stairs to my room.

Once I reach my door, I push it open revealing my semi-clean room. Smiling slightly, I lead him inside, close the door and sit down on my bed. He sits next to me, looking down in his lap and playing with his fingers. "So um, I'm sorry for what you had to see today." He quietly mutters. "You shouldn't have had to see me like that." Grabbing his hands I look at him, "Ash, you don't need to apologize, it's not okay for that to happen but I know that everyone has a different way of dealing with pain." I tell him, "I'm sorry that people do the things they do to push you to do that. I want to help you stop." I rub my thumb over the top of his hand, awaiting his reply. "It's not worth trying, you can't fix me. Nobody can." He sighs. I look at him with a small, sad smile."There is a solution to every problem. Maybe I'm yours."