concealing ➸ tomlinson

xix

| "tune out the static sound of the city that never sleeps, here in the moment on the dark side of this screen."- five seconds of summer, 'disconnected' |

seven pm.

"how about i turn into one of the doctors, bang like hell so they let me out, and then you tell me the code to let everyone out?"

"luke, you've had dumb ideas before, way too many than i'd like to count, but that's got to be the worst." a sigh from the room next to him. "besides, they're not as stupid as we'd like to think. they'd know you were just mimicking."

"no they wouldn't. ash, back me up on this."

from the dark room on luke's other side came the answer. "sorry, it really wouldn't work."

luke exhaled, letting his head fall back onto the uncomfortable excuse of a pillow. "alright, fine."

the four rooms, each connected by an 8 inch-by 3 inch grate-like window, were silent.

"is cal awake?" luke asked after awhile, moving himself onto his knees and looking through the grate.

there was some shuffling, then ashton responded, "no, he's out cold." he drummed his fingers against the wall. "mikey, you're up, right?"

"i'm getting feedback from both of you dicks, so yes."

"we'll put our thoughts on vibrate next time, our apologies." luke said in return.

"kindly do."

ashton muffled a laugh. "so, um, guys, are we going to try the mind hacking thing tomorrow?"

michael groaned. "i'll pass, thanks."

"c'mon, we've only tried twice."

"yeah, and each time i can barely stand up for two straight days!"

luke smiled to himself. "michael, if we figure out how to get you to influence people's minds, we could actually break out."

"at my own expense. i swear, if i loose it, crazy michael if going to kill you first."

ashton quieted another giggle. "let's just go to bed, okay?"

luke smiled and rolled onto his stomach. "night, fellas."

there was a creak of springs to his right. "night." ashton pipped.

michael's bed groaned under the increase of weight. "just fall asleep fast."

~

eight pm.