Yours, Mine, & Ours//Lashton AU

Seven

"I have to leave."

It was now 9:30 and Michael and Ashton were sitting in Michael's car eating fries and drinking milkshakes when Ashton randomly made this comment.

Michael looked at him.

"What do you mean you have to leave? Leave where?"

"Leave Sydney."

This got Michael's attention. His feet that had previously been resting on the dashboard slammed down to the floor of the car and he sat up straight.

"Leave? Sydney? You can't leave! Why would you-" he paused, "-oh." He leaned back in his seat and slumped down.

Ashton sighed and looked out the window. "It's not that i want to because honestly I don't it's just," he struggled to find the words to say that wouldn't make every part of him hurt more.

"Sydney's kind of become haunted for you." Michael finished off for him.

Ashton looked at Michael then forward again. "Yeah. Exactly. I can't stay somewhere so painful to me. Not saying I wouldn't still hurt if I moved somewhere else but I just can't stay here."

Michael was silent for a moment. Ashton was his best friend. He loved him and if Ashton left, Michael would probably seriously consider going with him. It would be painful watching Ashton leave but he knew that if his friend really needed to start healing, it had to be somewhere new without those haunted memories.

"Where would you go?"

Ashton shrugged. "I don't know. Probably not too far. This is still my home and people I love still live here. I couldn't just abandon all of them."

Michael nodded. "Okay. Well just know that if you are doing this, you should expect I will follow you and refuse to leave your side."

Ashton smiled sadly. "There is no way I would stop you."

"There's no way you could stop me."

"Good to know."

It was fairly dark out by now and they were the only vehicle in a pretty much abandoned parking lot. It was late and they were all alone. This made Ashton sad.

"I miss him." He said after a while. There were no tears in his eyes when he said this but there was pain in his voice.

Michael looked at Ashton sadly. "I know you do."

"What do you think happens after we die?" He asked.

"What?"

"After we die. Do you think we're just dead or do you believe there's such a thing as heaven and hell?"

Michael considered this for a moment. "I think that something happens after we die. I don't think we can just die and that be it. Maybe not so much a heaven and hell but something. What, I don't know. But I think there's something."

Ashton nodded. "And do you think, if there is something, Luke misses me?"

Michael looked at Ashton sadly who was staring out the window and up at the sky. Funny how people looked up when talking about death. As if by looking hard enough, you could find the ones you lost.

"I know wherever Luke is, he misses you. And all he wants is to be with you."

Ashton looked at Michael then back up at the sky.

"That's all I want too. If God is real and is the reason Luke isn't with me anymore, he is a really big asshole."

"He sure is."