anonymous|| lashton & malum||

||2||

note; I don't live in New York (I wish!) so I don't really know of places, towns, etc. surrounding it so just bear with me, I'm sort've basing it on Sydney(Australia) a bit, it's a story anyways so it's make believe I guess. Thank you for reading ♡

Today Luke finally got the courage to message the guy he had a slight crush on.
Luke had no idea really who this Ashton guy was, but he found him through tumblr, and to Luke, this Ashton guy was the most beautiful human he's ever laid eyes on. Well, the photos he's seen anyways.

Luke was considered a 'punk'. He had tattoos covering his arms, eyebrows, septum and lip piercings. He dropped out if school as soon as he turned 17, which was just last week actually and right now all he's doing is writing songs.
Luke shares an apartment with his best friend Michael.
Michael is considered the town's 'bad boy'. Stupid labels. He's constantly dying his hair, he has a few piercings and wears mostly leather jackets, black jeans, black shirts, anything black or leather really.

The two boys live together in a not-so-luxurious apartment building, to say to the least.
They live an hour out of New York City and just found a cheap apartment block to live in until they get their lives on track. It only costs the boys $100 a month, and that's basically only because they live close to the city, otherwise it'd be way cheaper than that.
It had one bedroom, a lounge/dining area with a pull-out sofa bed and a small table with one chair, a kitchen, which was just a small corner bench, a microwave, cheap bench top, kettle and sink. It wasn't great but it was enough for them to survive at the moment and they were content with that.

Michael works at a coffee shop/cafe 15 minutes out of the city, so, about 45 minutes away from where they live. He leaves home at 8 every morning to get there just before he starts at 9. The cafe is one of the nicest places around and Michael loves working there. Except the manager changed business hours from 6am to 11pm because it's not convenient for people who work at a 9-5 job in the city. So with these business hours, the cafe is likely to attract people after work and people travelling in and out.
Michael has different shifts each week, depending on when he wants to work. But usually he works from 9-7, with two, one-hour breaks throughout the day.
His manager is really nice and the pay is great so Michael loves working where he does.

Luke on the other hand can't be bothered to go and look for a job anywhere, not even at the grocery store around the corner from where they live. He sometimes busks out on the street for a bit of money, it's quite sad actually, but that's all Luke is doing with his life and no one can change him.
Michael who is 19, has talked to him about the money situation.
Michael basically pays for everything, rent, food, clothing, other necessary items, everything. The money Luke makes from busking and doing small gigs, he puts towards his smoking addiction. Michael has talked to Luke, basically like a parent would, about how he needs to pull his weight(and stop smoking) but Luke just shuts him out and won't come out of his "room" for days.
It's hard for Michael sometimes, he is trying in life and saving up for college, but it's hard for him when he's basically paying for Luke to stay alive.
And that's how this happened.

It was Monday morning and Michael was getting ready to leave for work.
He could smell smoke and wondered why, Luke never smokes inside.
"Luke mate, please go outside"
"Why" Luke scoffed.
"I don't want the place to smell like smoke, it's a rule, no smoking in the apartments, we could get in trouble"
"So? It'll just be a fine"
"That I'll pay for Luke! I need to talk to you. I can't keep paying for everything. I'm the only reason why you get food on the table, have a roof over your head and clothes on your back! You need to help out a bit instead of wasting all your cash on cigarettes.
I love you Luke, you're my best mate, but I can't keep using all my college savings just so you can survive. I'm sorry"
"You know what Michael?! Screw you, I'm out"
Michael just sighed. Luke won't go anywhere, and even if he does, it won't last long.
At least that's what Michael thought.
It had been five days since Michael had seen the seventeen year old punk and he was starting to get worried.

He has no clue as to where Luke was and there was nothing left behind to give him any ideas whatsoever.
Except Luke's laptop without a password. This could help.
Michael unlocked it and clicked on the tumblr app seeing as it had a lot of notifications. Most were just asking why he hasn't posted in days but there was one that stuck out to Michael.

unknown; don't forget Luke, I have so many things against you, I could ruin your whole life.

What is this person on about? Michael thought to himself.
He decided to call Luke, agIn, hoping he'd pick up this time.
After four rings Michael was about to give up but he heard the voice of his best friend that he's missed a lot these past few days.
"Hey Michael" Michael sighed in relief.
"Luke! I've been so worried about you. I'm sorry for what I said, just, please come home Luke, I miss you man"
"Meet me at Starbucks in an hour"
"Which one?" Michael chuckled.
"Umm you know that one near ummm I don't know where to describe. Umm, oh yeah! Where that Asian kid works"
"Okay I'll see you soon"
Michael hung up with a smile on his face.
He didn't have work until 6 today, he was working the late shift, 6-11. So he drove in to the city, his work uniform in the back of his car in case he didn't have time to go back home after he saw Luke.

He found the Starbucks quite easily. It's on a corner near all the huge 20 storey work buildings, it kind of stands out.
Michael made his way in and spotted Luke at a booth in the corner.
"Hey" Luke looked down shyly, "I got your favourite"
"Thanks Luke. What did you wanna talk about?"
"Um so I-I didn't mean what I said the other day and I promise I'll pay you back as soon as I can but um, not all my money has been going towards my "addiction". I've been saving for quite a while now and I finally saved enough. We have a new apartment. Just two blocks up from here actually. I thought it'd be easier for you to get to work because you wouldn't have to leave as early, it's a lot bigger and a thousand times nicer and there's a music store around the corner, I've applied for a job there and I'm just waiting for a reply to see if I got it"
Michael was practically in shock.
"W-what?"
"We can go have a look now if you want? The lease starts on Monday so we have the weekend to pack up our stuff. Oh, and there's already furniture and appliances, except for beds"
"Wow Luke I don't know what to say to you to be honest. Thank you"
"Hey it's fine. Let's go check it out hey? It's really nice"

The two boys walked out of Starbucks and chatted on the way to the new apartment that they'd soon be calling home.
Life seemed great at the money for the two friends.
At least for now.

A/N; so much has happened & it's only chapter 2! I'm actually really excited for this story. I apologise that there's no romance yet between Malum or Lashton and that they haven't even met each other yet, it probably feels like I'm dragging it out but I'm not. Anyways, if you are reading this, thanks & I love you ♡