All These Years (Muke/Cashton)

Ch. 4 - It Never Ends

*Luke's P.O.V*

"What do you mean by 'we slept through it'?" Michael asks irritably, as we sit outside on the doorstep, waiting for the taxi to arrive.

"I mean, we slept through it, I don't know how" I growl. "When he called, Calum said that he was in the ambulance with Ashton, who was unconscious.. Apparently, Calum was scared to tell us, that's why he didn't wake us up" I tell him.

"How did we not hear everything though?" Michael asks in disbelief.

"We fell asleep at like... 3:40am? Calum said Ashton woke up screaming at like 5:50am, we were obviously out like a light" I tell him.

"And what about this breakdown Ashton had?" Michael asks.

"Apparently he scrambled out of bed, fell on the floor and started sobbing, mumbling something about the horrible flashbacks and nightmares... Calum said he kept crying 'Make it stop! Make it stop!'... Calum tried to calm him down but he pushed him away" I explain.

"And Calum just let Ashton get away while he was in distress?" Michael asks.

"He was in shock, he had no idea what Ashton was doing or how to stop him" I reply. "But when he heard the bathroom door slam shut and lock, he panicked" I add. "When Ashton finally opened the door... It was too late, he was bleeding to death" I continue, choking on the words a little. "He called for help and it didn't take long for the paramedics to arrive and take them away... He called us at 7am, I had just started to wake up" I finish.

"He called for help? But he couldn't wake us up?" Michael asks, his voice harsh.

"Oh yeah, what would go down well!" I laugh bitterly. "Michael, he was covered in Ashton's blood, he was crying his eyes out because his soulmate was dying, how do you think he would wake us up? I'm sorry but I would of been terrified if he had woken me up like that" I snap.

"One of my best friends was dying and I was asleep" Michael says, on the verge of tears.

"In Calum's defence," I snap. "When you passed out in my arms, the very last thing on my mind was 'oh, hey I better call Calum and tell him my husband might be dying'.. No. My first thought was you. Making sure you weren't dead and then when I realised you were breathing all I could think of was waking you up because I needed to know you were okay because you are all that maters to me and I was scared of losing you!" I almost shout the words at him.

I blink away the tears in my eyes and start to regret shouting at him.

Michael goes quiet.

Did we just have our first fight?

Are we still fighting?

My heart sinks as Michael stands up off of the step and walks down the driveway. I know him well enough that by the way that his hands touch his chin slightly, I can tell he is biting his lip, trying his hardest not to cry.

"Michael" I say softly, standing up to follow him.

"I'm okay" he lies, his voice shakes slightly.

"No" I say as I reach him. "You're not okay" I tell him, pulling him into my arms gently. "I should not have yelled at you like that" I tell him as he snuggles into my chest.

I hear him sniffle, I look down at him as tears start slipping from his eyes.

He looks so fragile, like the slightest touch will cause him to shatter into a million pieces.

I burry my face into Michael's hair, kissing the top of his head over and over.

"I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry" I mumble, holding him as tight as I possible can without hurting him.