Here Kitty, Kitty ; muke [completed]

20

A/N: I love Michael Clifford

*****

Ashton stood in the motel room doorway - small purple and green bruises littered his arms, his hair similar to a wild mane, and bags underneath his puffy eyes. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah," Calum nodded, closing the door behind the limping boy.

"Calum! Are you crazy?" Michael shouted. "It's clearly a joke! He's not hurt, he's here to bring us back home! He's going to hurt us!"

"I'm not going to hurt you, just let me explain," Ashton huffed, sitting on the bed with a pained look. "The authority are looking for you, but I'm not. I was helping them because I thought it was as simple as you going to jail and your hybrid boyfriend going to the lab. But it's not that simple."

"What do you mean it's not that simple? Can you stop being all mysterious and shit and just tell me what's going on?" Michael asked, annoyed.

"They want to kill you, Michael."

"Kill me?"

"You and your boyfriend. They didn't want him for the lab and they weren't going to put you in jail. After I found this out, I tried to quit. When I told my boss, he locked me in a room and sent some of my co-workers to beat me. I escaped, but now they're looking for me too."

"Looks like we're all on the run now," Calum sighed, gently sinking into the bed beside Ashton. "Are you okay? You look pretty banged up."

"I'm fine, it just hurts," Ashton muttered, putting his head in his hands. Within seconds, small sobs racked his body. Michael didn't know what to do, he stood there awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. Calum, however, pulled the crying boy into his chest and held him there.

"Luke, you can come out now," Michael called and out from the closet came the youngest boy, his cat ears perked up. "Listen Ashton, I know you're hurt and I know they're looking for you too, so you can stay with us. We're going to drive as far as we can and make it on our own, but there are rules."

"Rules?" Ashton raised his head, eyebrows furrowed.

"Don't forget that I know it was you that beat Luke a while back and if you lay a hand on him during this trip, you will not be allowed to stay with us. Understood?"

Ashton nodded hastily. "I'm sorry for doing that to you, Luke. That was very stupid of me. I'm a different person now. I went to addiction classes for a little while to help me with my drug addiction and my anger problems. It helped a lot."

"That's really good, Ashton," Calum smiled, rubbing circles in Ashton's back. "I don't have that kind of strength, to quit."

"Neither do I," Michael agreed.

"A-Ashton could help you guys," Luke said softly. There was nothing more for Michael that Luke wanted than for him to be healthy and they both knew he was not with all the drugs and alcohol.

"I could," Ashton shrugged. "We're all in this together now, right?"

"Yeah, we are," Michael stated. "It's getting kind of late, so I think we should head to bed. I'll drive tomorrow."

"C'mon Ashton, I'll show you the shower," Calum helped the injured boy up and into the bathroom.

"Um," Ashton shut the door behind them and bit his lip nervously. "This might be weird, and you don't have to do it if you don't want to - but it hurts to move and I don't think I can stand up in the shower. I think I need to take a bath instead and I just feel so weak and -"

"It's okay," Calum blushed. "I'll help you, don't worry about it. S'not weird." Besides, who was Calum to say no when Ashton bit his lip like that?

"Thank you," Ashton whispered and lifted his arms so Calum could take his shirt off. Once his shirt was off, Calum's breath was caught in his throat, all thoughts of Stella were thrown away, and he fought the urge to kiss Ashton's perfect stomach.

Next, Calum kneeled down and took of Ashton's pants, leaving him only his boxers. "I'm going to run the water and then you can take your boxers off and get in, okay? I'll wash your hair for you too."

"Oh, you don't have to wash my hair.."

"You're hurt Ash, I'll do it," Calum spoke, adjusting the water temperature so it was perfect and stood up straight. "Water's ready, you can get in." He took a step aside and watched as Ashton stripped off his boxers and slowly slipped into the water.

Calum sat on the edge of the tub and filled a plastic cup of water. "Lean your head back, love." Ashton did as he said and Calum wet the boy's hair. He squirted a bit of shampoo into his palm and rubbed it into Ashton's hair, who hummed softly at the feeling.

He rinsed it out and did the same with the conditioner. "I can wash your body too if you'd like?" Calum offered, but Ashton shook his head.

"I'll do that. Thank you though, for everything."

"It's no problem," Calum smiled sincerely. "I'll go get you some clothes, I'll be back."

Calum left the bathroom and saw Luke and Michael entwined in their bed, both sound asleep. He took out a pair of boxers, sweatpants, and a shirt from his luggage and headed back to the bathroom where Ashton was already wearing his towel.

"Here are your clothes," Calum handed them to him. "I'll be in bed, come whenever you're ready."

Ten minutes later, Ashton crawled into bed beside Calum and sighed heavily. Tears fell from his eyes way too quick for him to stop them.

"Hey, it's okay, don't cry," Calum breathed, wrapping the crying boy in his arms once again. "We're going to get through this."

"You know," Ashton sniffled, peering up at Calum. "You have these tattoos and that piercing- you look like a real punk, but you're just a softie." He chuckled lightly.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," He nuzzled his head into Calum's chest. "But it's okay. It's the real you. I like the real you."

Both boys fell asleep with small smiles on their faces.

Notes

Aye double update

That bath scene was one of the most intimate scenes I've ever written bc I don't write my own smut very often :-)

BUT CASHTON

Ok love you all

Jordan x

Edited July 2019