The Setup » [lashton] √

0.7

[Tuesday]

The night before Luke had had to swallow his anger and confusion, not to mention his damaged ego; he was so sure that Ashton had been flirting, even if he hadn't wanted it to go anywhere it was all flattering until he realised that perhaps- well almost definitely Ashton hadn't intended it like that at all. 

Then he'd made his way home, smiling politely and waving goodbye to Ashton at the corner where they always parted, Luke toward the train station and Ashton toward his bus stop. As soon as he'd turned his back on Ashton, he'd started mulling it all over again. The main question he'd had to ask himself was if perhaps Ashton had just said it to get that guy to leave. 

Which part of Luke had clung to desperately, but the other part rationalised, people normal acknowledged when they told lies like that.

They'd say things like, 'whatever will get them to leave me alone,' or roll their eyes, but Ashton had done none of that. He'd said, 'so weird, that happens way more often than you'd think.'

Which- well, sort of said it all, really. 

So he was fuming with Calum for hours, barely able to sleep for the angry thoughts. Then as soon as he woke that morning, woke suggesting he'd slept, he'd pulled on the closest clothes he could find and got on the bus to Calum's. He didn't even stop for a coffee like he usually would; determined to figure out what the fuck Calum thought he was doing. 

So that's what was happening; they were having a row. Which was incredibly uncommon for them, and even when they did argue, it was never like this. 

"I can't believe you lied to me; he's not even into guys!" Luke was pacing back and forth across Calum's living room. 

"I just thought you guys would work well together," Calum said, he made a step as if to follow Luke in his pacing, but the other man rounded on him. 

"You could have introduced him to me as a friend!" his tone was biting and he rolled his eyes as he spoke, they'd been going in circles arguing the same points over and over. Luke was becoming exhausted, the longer it lasted the more he started to feel like he might hate Calum. 

"But, I know he's into guys, I can tell,"

Luke stopped pacing, his face turning severe, "No, no you don't know what you're talking about, for fucks sake!" he sighed, trying to drain some of the malice from his voice, "this isn't some shitty fucking 2000's romcom; we're real people, with feelings. You can't just play around with people, if he's into guys then that's up to him to work out for himself. You of all people should know that" He rubbed his temples, trying to steady his voice again, "I never, ever thought you'd do something like this, I'm so angry and so disappointed, and I- I feel manipulated," he confessed, sadness overcoming the anger, but he repeated himself, "I'm so angry," 

He took slow deep breaths, eyes trained on the window, a long moment of silence before Calum spoke again, "Luke, I never meant to-. I just thought- I don't know what I thought, that you might make each other happy," he continued pathetically. 

 "I have feelings for him because you encouraged me to go after him, I-I-" he faltered the thought coming to him but not sure if he had the fortitude to go through with it until the words were tumbling from his lips and the urge to cry forming in his throat, "just stay away from me, I don't wanna see you for a while,"

He'd left, not in the same flurry he'd arrived; his heart was heavier now, he felt betrayed. He'd thought oringally if he'd given it some time he'd be able to talk to Calum without blowing up at him, he'd been wrong. 

As he made his way back home, he stopped off at a coffee shop, getting a latte and a croissant; he started to wonder if maybe he should tell Ashton about all this. He was, of course, the person with the most reason to be angry. Luke had been following him around at Calum's behest for weeks; as soon as he said anything, it would all click into place. If the words 'setup' and 'gay' were uttered, he would realise he'd been being flirted with. 

Then that friendship would surely go down the toilet too. He wasn't sure whether lying- omitting the truth or making him uncomfortable was worse. Normally he would pose these sorts of questions to Calum; maybe he'd have to turn to Michael for advice, a distinctly more horrifying thought.

So he made it the rest of the way home, trying as he might to organise his thoughts before he decided what exactly he was going to do about this.