Revolution || Lashton AU - boyxboy

t w e n t y - f o u r

{UNEDITED}

I didn't know what to do.

Ashton wasn't here anymore.

I came here looking for Ashton again the next day, and Nate answered looking as though he'd just woken up. Normally, I suppose I should've felt bad about waking him after he hadn't slept in days, but I couldn't bring myself to allow that to be a priority.

But I couldn't see Ashton in his bed, so I interrogated a half-asleep Nate on his whereabouts.

"Where's Ashton?" I asked frantically, stepping perhaps a bit too close to Nate for his comfort.

"He's gone, Luke." He responded, before turning and attempting to close the door.

"What? Where?"

"You know, why do you suddenly care about him so much?" He asked, sounding a bit testy.

"What are you--"

"You used to be hellbent on driving the poor guy insane before you even knew him. You could've just left him alone that first day. I'm gonna tell you something you may not know, Luke. Ashton, God, Ashton is one of the most insecure people I have ever met in my entire life. And you waltzed into that English room all high and mighty like you had some point to prove, and you crushed him. He yelled, he punched things, he must've threatened you, he seemed angry. But when Ashton gets angry, nine times out of ten, it's a shield." He vociferated, looking a bit more awake but still exhausted all at once.

"I--:"

"He cares a lot more than you think, Luke. His entire life he's been rejected. He cherishes his music, more than you will ever understand. So he goes up in front of that whole class to talk about the most important thing in his life, and you shot him down.You realize that? You can argue that this was forever ago and that he probably doesn't even care, you can argue that all you want, but you will always be wrong. You rejected him. He can't take rejection like that. He has to be the one to do the rejecting, because being rejected kills him."

"Nate, I, I--"

"You don't even get it, do you?" He scoffed, a dry, sarcastic smile at the corner of his mouth.

I just sat silently, knowing I wouldn't be able to get a word in, even if I had one.

"You've done nothing but reject him since you first met. The music was only the first time. Then there was the time he stabbed you - which, yes, I know he stabbed you, but he must've had a reason, I'm sure. But you know what happened, Luke? He started to like you. Ashton doesn't like anybody, but he liked you, for God knows what reason. And then you rejected him for Vinny, time and time again. You'd go from his best mate to ignoring him for weeks at a time. You can't do that to him. You were in a mentally and physically abusive relationship for how long? And you didn't know not to toy with people like that?" He spat, and I suddenly wished I hadn't come here in the first place, because I felt like complete and utter shit.

"I've known Ashton since we were both eighteen. He is my best friend, and I wouldn't trade him for the world. I've been to hell and back with Ashton. Maybe you wouldn't know this, but Ashton is honestly doing so much better than he was when I first met him. He's improved significantly. And all I had to do was treat him like a human being." He hissed, and his knuckles were turning white from his grip on the door as he yelled at me in the hallway. "So don't you dare come here asking me all about Ashton like you care. Because anyone who cared about Ashton would never have treated him the way you did for so long." He finished, before slamming the door in my face.