Knockout • OT4

16- Scared

Luke had no time to react.

The moment Mr. Brooks began walking away was almost a sign from the divine if you asked him. Michael was pale, ghostly pale. The blood just kept seeping from his nose and the other small gashes that reopened with the force of Calums fist.

When he walked away, he got to work.

He hoisted Michael up and against his chest, legs spread on either side of him as he took the bleeding nose in between his fingers, pinching right above the bridge of his nose whilst tilting the boys head back.

His hands were shaking, he couldn't concentrate when he was beyond enraged with the words spoken by his boss. But, if he couldn't get it together, Michael would be dead fucking meat in the hands of Ashton and Calum.

Those two were stood in silence, not an inch moved as they watched the devil reincarnated walk away from the ring, from them.

Calum was feeling the adrenaline of the punch that knocked out their spitfire all while feeling the utter anger of the previous news.

What the fuck did he mean Luke would take Michael in the ring? In what fucking world was that a fair fight.

Ashton was thinking along those lines, not without feeling his guts twist in agony at an unknown or unfamiliar emotion. Under any other circumstance, he would've brought it up to his lovers, but at the moment? He can tell they were going through an emotional turmoil of their own.

"Punk? C'mon, come back to me." the blonde muttered, hand coming up the squeeze at the pale cheeks. This was an attempt to get him standing, not an attempt to see that childish chub that Michaels never outgrown.

He's just a kid, what the fuck was he doing here.

What the fuck were they doing with him.

His heart sat heavy in his chest, in a way it did when they found the red haired punk passed out in the showers and standing alone in their apartment.

Luke was finally fed up with the blank stares coming from the only other two people occupying this ring. "For fucks sakes- will you two quit standing there and help me move him?!" he screamed, hand unintentionally squeezing one of the gashes on the younger boys face.

His wince signified he was alive, that's a relief.

Ashton blinked a few times, eyes trailing from their boss to his loved one holding their spitfire.

His anger was temporarily replaced to say the least.

He took a few long and quick strides before bending down to Luke's level, hooking his arms under Michaels knees and arms to carefully lift him off the blonde. He was in rough shape, in no shape to be fighting another one of them within a day.

"Where am I taking him?" Ashton asked, voice many octaves lower as his emotions clouded his judgment. His jaw was clenched and his eyes stayed narrowed, he was almost afraid to look at the boy in his arms incase it reminded him of his enraging qualities.

Luke ran a shakey hand through his hair as a deep breath pushed its way out of his lungs. His wide blue eyes, highly alert, looked around the gym before looking back at his companion.

"Home, we have to take him home."

He almost gaped at the very word.

"Luke- he's been there once. We fucked him and- and that's it. That's not his home, that's our home. I don't think it's a good idea to bring him back with us again-"

"Shut the fuck up you moron, our home is what I meant. We can't leave him here, I can't be assed to find his files and bring him home. Be fucking honest right now, is he any safer anywhere else than with us?" the blonde rebuttaled. He thought Ashton was being plain stupid, little did he know that Ashton was right.