kik → a.i ⋆ c.h

47

     "You've taken like 500 pictures in the past ten minutes, Ash." Luke laughs as Ashton snaps a picture of Lily looking out the window of the plane. Ashton shoots Luke a glare as he repeatedly clicks the capture button. Luke flips him off.

     "Dude!" Ashton sneers as his own hand quickly shoots to Luke's, roughly pulling it down. "Seriously?" He raises his eyebrows at Luke, who sits next to Ashton with an amused expression on his face.

     Luke shrugs. He uses the opportunity however, to intertwine his fingers with Ashton's, as the boys hand was still gripping Luke's fist. Luke turns back to sit properly in his seat, resting his and Ashton's hand on his own thigh as he smirks.

     Luke's grip on Ashton's hand was light, for he halfway expected Ashton to rip his hand away and hit him. With his hand? Probably not. With the magazine from the back of the seat in front of them? Probably. Luke imagined Ashton would hit him with the rolled up magazine like Luke was a fly in a kitchen, and Ashton was a housewife.

     Ashton did nothing, however. He continued conversing with Lily, telling her about what was going to happen during the flight, and reassuring her that even though it'd be loud for a minute, she'd have more fun than ever. Ashton glanced over at Luke briefly once he realized what Luke was doing, and smiled softly as he gripped Luke's hand tighter.

     "Daddy?" Lily's soft voice rings through Ashton's ears as the small girl tugs at his shirt.

     "Yeah?" Ashton smiles as he looks down at Lily.

     "Love Luke?" She gestures past Ashton, where she notices Luke and Ashton's intertwined hands.

     This catches Luke's attention, his head snapping over to face Lily as he hears his name. His eyes widen a bit and he opens his mouth to say something, but nothing comes out and Ashton laughs when he sees Luke's face. Luke looks like a fish gasping for air. Luke furrows his brows at Ashton momentarily, before shutting his mouth as he swallows nervously.

     "We, uh, well-" Ashton stutters, glancing back and forth from Lily to Luke. Ashton knows he dug this hole. He knew he told that to Lily and he knew that as far as Lily was concerned, Ashton loved Luke just like he loved Calum. And honestly, Ashton had no fucking clue how to answer her. He didn't know how he felt about Luke. All he knew was that he felt warm as Luke rubbed circles on the top of Ashton's hand. Ashton knew he felt safe when Luke let him tuck his head into Luke's chest and cry, for he knew Luke would rub his back and let him cry. So maybe he did love him? He hadn't given it much thought until now, he had kind of been busy stitching his heart back together from Calum.

     "I tired." Lily says suddenly, seemingly forgetting about her previous question. Ashton sighs a quiet breath of relief as he glances over to Luke, who still had a fearful look on his face. Luke closes his eyes, leaning back into the seat as he sighs.

     Lily plays with the rings on Ashton's left hand as they all waits for the plane to take off. Ashton could see that Lily was about to pass out, but remembered that she got her stubbornness from him, and she would refuse to sleep before she got to see the tops of the clouds. So Ashton let her play with his rings to keep her busy, because if she fell asleep and missed the clouds, Ashton knew he would still be hearing about it months later. "Once she's asleep, we're having a talk." Ashton says in a quiet, low voice, leaning into Luke. He looks into Luke's eyes as the boy raises an eyebrow.

     "Everything okay?" Luke asks softly. He leans back into Ashton's shoulder as he rubs his hand gently. Ashton swallows, looking back at Luke with nervous eyes.

     Luke knew that look. Luke created that look. Luke knew Ashton was confused, scared, and just slightly concerned. Luke knew exactly what their talk was going to be about, and he didn't like it at all.