a picture is worth a thousand words. a thousand words describing his unconditional beauty. luke knew what beauty was better than anyone. he could recall every picture, recite every thought that ran through his head every time he was able to capture photos of the man who captured his heart.
"oh, luke. you waited up for me." the blonde boy tensed up as a hand rested on his shoulder. luke pulled away, as if he had been burned, quickly closing the small photo album in his hands. he shoved it in his bag, standing up quickly and shyly smiling at who was in front of him.
ashton irwin... well, ashton clifford now. quite possibly the most popular boy at highland prep school, not to mention the richest. not that the money was his, though. he was adopted by the headmaster himself, michael clifford, when he was in the lower grades of highland prep at 10 years old and michael was 20 and a literature teacher. ashton had come from a very dark past, so michael, as the former headmaster's son, decided it would be right to take him under his own wing.
now, here he was, 17 and brighter than he ever was. he really did have the same optimism and class as headmaster clifford, but it was pretty obvious they weren't related. ashton was tanner, more toned, and had a curly mop of light brown hair.
not to mention he was very fond of the slightly off beat, yet adorable luke hemmings.
"what'cha got there?" ashton gestured to his bag, to which luke zipped it up.
"it's... it's nothing. nothing important." luke managed to say between awkwardly clearing his throat. "can we drop it? aren't you supposed to go meet your dad for tennis?"
"only if you come with me." ashton sneakily added in, smiling at him as he wrapped an arm around the lanky boy's shoulder. luke rolled his eyes, pressing himself into ashton's side as they left the school together. "yeah, whatever."
---
"luke, how nice of you to join us." luke smiled uneasily, trying his best to be polite. it's not that he wasn't fond of mr. clifford's girlfriend, really. it's not that rosalie was necessarily a bad person, but luke just found something off about her relationship with the headmaster.
"yeah, ashton wanted me to come." he replied, taking a seat across from her on the patio next to the tennis court. mr. clifford's property was too big to be real, luke always told himself. it made his house look like a shithole in comparison, even though it really wasn't. still, the clifford residence was quite a sight to see, inside and out. despite how many times luke has been around, he always managed to get lost.
his thoughts were interrupted by ashton's out of breath voice. "dude! you should come play with us!" luke smiled more genuinely at the boy, though he leaned back in his chair. "it's okay. i like to watch from here."
"god, you're such a princess." the slightly older boy snorted, winking. "i'm gonna have to sweep you off your feet one of these days."
"whatever. get out there so i could take some shots of you in action." luke couldn't help but watch with a fond look on his face as ashton jogged off to the tennis court. he pulled his camera out, wiping the lens and pressing the button. he pulled the polaroid from the slot at the bottom of his camera, shaking it until the image of ashton in his clean, pastel tennis outfit.
soon enough, though, rosalie had called out to ashton, saying michael was too busy to come out and practice for the day, so ashton gathered his things and walked luke home. as he would every evening, ashton leaned his head up towards the taller boy and gingerly placed a peck on his cheek, waving him off as luke shut the door and descended into the privacy of his room.
he placed the polaroid he took of ashton in a box with other photos, sighing out as he discovered he didn't have anything new for his portfolio of special pictures. "maybe i'll get something better tomorrow."
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it feels so good to be back. i hope my writing didn't turn to shit lmao
i missed you guys how are you all??
much love!! xx
