Heart of Gold // Lashton

0.7.2.

♥ Ashton/Luke ♥

With a flash, the two boys appeared in the simulator Luke had been in not long before. He knew he was supposed to take Ashton to the gates, but there was some time left and he knew the curly haired boy would want to know how his family was doing.

"Hello, Ashton."

The curly haired boy blinked a few times to clear his vision, looking up at Calum. The dark haired boy way smiling sadly, leaning on something. Ashton tried to make out what the thing was, but there were too many buttons to make sense. "Um, hi."

"You know he can't be here too long, right?" Calum then said, looking at the blonde that stood behind Ashton. "He'll know."

"I don't care. I got myself into more problems than that already." Luke shrugged, turning to the view and pressing a few buttons, making the view move along with Michael. Not that it moved much in that moment, because Michael was looking up at the sky still.

Calum stayed quiet, looking at Ashton for a moment, before turning to the view as well. It made Ashton curious, but he stayed quiet. If they didn't want to talk about it, they didn't have to. Even if it was probably about him.

"Ash?"

Ashton jumped up at the sudden sound, turning to the view as well and watching with big eyes how Michael reacted. He felt his heart ache (before frowning a little as he remembered he didn't even have one anymore) at his friend's actions, feeling tears burn at his own eyes at how Michael cried and asked him to stay as he tried to call the emergency number.

With a blurry vision, Ashton followed his galaxy haired friend from their special spot, to the hospital, where they rushed his body away and let Michael cry alone. He was curled up against the wall, shaking from his sobs.

Once he saw his mum enter the place, a tear finally escaped his eye. She seemed to be crying, but her face was telling them she was trying to stay calm. As if she had hope. But Ashton knew she just kept calm for Michael and that internally, she was already expecting the worst. And he couldn't blame her.

"It's m-my fault."

Ashton shook his head, rubbing at his cheeks to remove the tears and trying to keep everything in check. He hated crying. Especially in front of people. He couldn't even remember the last time he cried in front of someone. Well, apart from that one time he did so in front of Luke. But he had tried to keep it in, it just didn't work for some reason.

The curly haired boy peeked a glance at Calum, seeing the boy frown sadly at his galaxy haired friend. It made Ashton feel this small spark of happiness, to know that he wasn't the only one that cared about his friend. Of course it sounds stupid like that, because his mum and siblings and Michael's own parents cared about the boy. But Calum didn't even know Michael that well and that he already cared about the boy, only showed how great Michael was.

He turned his head back to the view, seeing a nurse appear and talk to them. He blocked out the words, not wanting to hear her say it, if she was going to. And judging by the looks on his family's face, he knew it was something that said just that.

But to his surprise, he saw Michael look outside through a nearby window, looking at the sky. It was almost as if he was counting the stars, until he saw one in particular. And Ashton swore he could feel the hope from Michael all the way where he was. "It's not the end."

Luke sighed quietly, closing his eyes for a moment, before turning to the curly haired boy. "We should go."

Ashton nodded slowly, taking in the two people once more, before closing his eyes and turning away. "Okay."