Barely Breathing- Lashton AU

Barely Breathing-5sos-Bullying Awareness

I was already downstairs making pancakes and eggs when Ashton woke up, he took in everything as he made his way to me. He sat down at the bar area and I finally noticed his lack of shirt, his surprisingly toned chest showing. It made me wonder why he didn't ever defend himself when the boys picked on him, he sure had the muscles for it.

"Morning Ashton", I said smiling.

He returned the smile and greeting, "good morning. I'm sorry if I kept you up last night." I gave him a questioning look, keep me up? "It's just Michael says I snore too loudly", he blushed, looking at the floor.

"No it's fine, I snore too so I didn't notice a thing." I said reassuringly.

He seemed to perk up a bit more after a while, I suppose he finally got comfortable with being in this new place. I wanted to talk to him but I wasn't all that great at starting conversations so we stayed silent as I finished up the food, it's smell filling the house. I knew this because right as I set mine and Ashton's plates down, my two brothers ran in still sleepy-eyed. They immediately gave me a hug, probably for making the breakfast, and began digging in. "Thanks Lukey!", they yelled as they ran back into their rooms with their plates of food.

"Lukey?"

I scrunched my nose, Ashton had his eyebrow raised, "nickname. Them and Calum call me sometimes". He laughed before picking at the food again, I forced myself to just assume he wasn't hungry, he was pretty thin but not too bad so I pushed all of the thoughts away.

I rinsed off the last of our dishes, Ashton and I had talked about sports we liked, bands, hobbies, everything. He was really down to earth and liked a lot of the same bands as me, turned out he even played the drums a little!

"Mate you're impressive", I laughed, "musical and funny!" He blushed at my statement, seriously, how could anyone not like Ashton?

"Thanks but you are musical and quite amazing yourself, Luke!" Ashton was grinning, showing off his dimples again.

I laughed, shrugging off the compliment and decided now was the time to bring up last night.

"Ashton, what all happened last night?"

It took him a few minutes before he gathered his thoughts and looked at me, sadness clouding his eyes. "I told Jacob to leave someone alone, like I mentioned earlier, and he told me we should talk about it later. Stupid me met up with him and his friends jumped me. Jacob was the only one wearing a class ring, I know because I felt it." I watched as his eyes filled with tears, none falling but they were there, threatening to spill over at any moment. I felt so horrible and sickish inside, I was raised that playing around was fine but bullying was never okay to do to anyone; no matter what the circumstances I would never tolerate bullying.

"Ashton listen, I know I don't know exactly where you're coming from", I stuttered around my words trying to come up with the right thing to say. "I mean, if you maybe hit them back it'll help or may-" He abruptly cut me off.

"You don't know shit about me or what I've been through, so don't try and be Dr. Phil with me! Do you even know what happens when I fight back? Do you know what my dad-" He stopped, having a shocked expression on his face, as if he couldn't believe what almost slipped out. Before I could say another word, he slammed the front door shut.

'Dammit Luke', I thought, 'you just messed up everything!'

I threw my phone down and decided it was best to let him cool off for a while, maybe tomorrow will be better.