Heart of Gold // Lashton

0.5.1.

ღ Ashton ღ

"Have you slept well?"

Ashton looked up from his breakfast, his eyes meeting Michael's green ones. He had always liked his a lot, but he liked his own as well. At first he always thought hazel was a stupid colour, but he had grown to like it. Especially since his eyes were almost exactly the same as his dad's.

"Yeah." Ashton nodded, before taking the last bite of his breakfast.

"Even though I slept by your side?" Michael asked, looking at his friend through his eyelashes.

"More on me, but yes. Don't worry." Ashton smiled slowly, making his friend smile back widely as he nodded. "M'kay."

"Why though? I mean, you never really ask, so I'm curious now." Ashton said, raising an eyebrow lightly.

Michael shrugged, biting on his lower lip for a moment. "Just, you moved quite a lot in your sleep."

"Oh," Ashton looked down at his empty plate, thinking about what to say. He knew he had told Michael about Lucas before, but he hadn't told him that Lucas kept appearing in his dreams. Then again, he wasn't really bothered by it because he loved it when the blonde came to visit his dreams. All he wondered was why and what that made Lucas. An angel, perhaps. Even with his tattoos, Ashton couldn't think of anything else but that. An angel.

"Well? I mean, I don't wanna push, but you look like there's something." This time Michael was the one to raise an eyebrow. It made Ashton squirm in his seat a little, before he let out a sigh in defeat. "Lucas. He keeps reappearing in my dreams."

"Wait, the blonde guy with the tattoos and piercings right?" Michael said. Ashton nodded in response, let out a quiet 'yes'.

"Hm, that's interesting." Michael responded, looking down at his plate for a moment. Ashton looked over his friend, smiling a little as he thought how lucky he was to have ever met Michael. And how lucky he was that the still galaxy haired boy had stuck by him through everything. Which had been quite a lot.

First the accident, then the depression and now this. It was almost as if life wasn't supposed to go right for Ashton, but he stayed positive. Always had been or tried to and still did so.

"Yeah," Ashton sighed, shrugging. Michael nodded again, both of them falling in a silence after that. It was comfortable nonetheless, even when Michael cleaned everything, even when they moved to the living room for a movie and even when Michael helped Ashton onto the couch a bit.

They were snuggled up, halfway through a second movie, when Ashton was dozing off. All the hospital routines were finally catching up with him as well as the excitement of going home and spending time with his family and Michael. So, he didn't really stop himself from falling asleep, knowing a nap could help him through the rest of the day later.

And as Ashton woke up in his dream, he was surprised to see someone that wasn't Lucas.

This boy had a darker skin-tone, his arms almost tattoo-less apart from the few on his one arm and he had no piercings whatsoever. His dark hair was somewhat curly, making Ashton subconsciously run a hand through his own.

"Hello." The boy greeted, smiling a little as his brown eyes moved over Ashton. It made the curly haired boy feel somewhat self-conscious, but he ignored it as he sat up on the couch. "Hi."

"I'm just going to get straight to the point, as Luke is very nervous and really wants to join," the boy started, before taking a deep breath. Ashton simply looked at him, waiting for him to continue. "Okay, maybe I should introduce myself first."

Ashton smiled a little, shrugging. "Whatever you think is best. But can I maybe ask a question?"

"You just did," the dark haired boy answered with a grin, making Ashton pout. "Okay, okay. Shoot."

"You said... Luke?" Ashton started, raising his eyebrows a little.

"Ah, yes, Luke, Lucas. You know, the blonde with the tattoos and piercings that visits basically all your dreams since, I think, four days?" The boy answered, shrugging as he grinned a little mischievously.

"Oh. So he's not -- his name is Luke?" Ashton cocked his head to the side a little, watching the boy walk closer before he sat down on the couch as well, turning himself to Ashton.

"Yes. But that's just safety precautions because of the rules. And that also brings us to why I'm here," the boy explained, "I -- Calum, my name's Calum," he grinned, "anyway. I'm here to tell you why Luke has been here."

"Oh?" Ashton looked at Calum in confusion. Why wasn't Lucas (or well, Luke) here himself to tell this? Why did Calum, who had been a stranger, have to do that?

"Yeah, so." Calum took a deep breath, looking straight at Ashton as he spoke, "the thing is, you're going to die."