The Bodyguard [Lashton AU]

Epilogue

AN: I am so sorry, guys, for taking forever to write this and breaking my promise. It is here now. The epilogue. Finally, it is here. And it's more than 15k words long. Will you stick around until the end?

Dedication: This is for everyone who didn't give up on this story and me, even if this did take nearly three years to finish. I love you all, and thank you for bearing with me throughout the whole thing. x

"Thank you, Manchester!" Ashton shouted, his voice echoing throughout the entire arena. "Have a good night!" He bowed before the audience, the cheers becoming louder as he did so. Then he stood up straighter, turned himself around, and ran straight to backstage.

There he heard those managing the show cheering for him and he couldn't help but smile as he received pats on the back and people telling him what an amazing job he did.

"Good show, Ash," Michael said as Ashton approached him. "One down, many more to go."

"I had a lot of fun performing tonight," the singer commented, "but my energy's been drained."

"You better get rested then. We've got another show tomorrow in another city. But first, before you head to the tour bus, turn around."

Raising his eyebrow at his manager, Ashton twisted his whole body around and his jaw dropped at what was in front of him. Bringing his hand up to his open mouth, he couldn't help the tears that prickled at his eyes.

"Hey, princess," said Luke, walking towards Ashton whose eyes were now very much teary. "It's been so long."

"T-Too long," Ashton whispered as he himself started to go over to Luke. He bit his bottom lip and then threw his arms around Luke who safely wrapped his around the older boy. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you, too." Luke's hold on Ashton tightened before he pulled away and the two gazed into each other's eyes. He moved Ashton's hair from his eyes, making the shorter boy giggle. "Rise and shine."

Ashton's eyebrows furrowed. "Wh-What?"

"Wake up, Ashton!"

Snapping his eyes open, Ashton let out a loud gasp before he let his hazel eyes look around where he was. He sat upright and then looked towards his left where Michael was sitting on the edge of the bed, a frown on his face.

"It's time for you to wake up," Michael said. "Come on, today's your first show, and we've got a lot of work to do."

"Oh, right," was all Ashton responded with. When his manager left the room, Ashton lay back down on the bed and rubbed his hands over his tired face.

It was only a dream--him meeting Luke again after several months. Of course, it was nothing but a dream.

He had been having dreams of Luke since being separated back in Los Angeles, and they would all seem real to him, but disappointment would take over him when he woke up each time and only found out that it wasn't real.

As Michael left the room, Ashton turned onto his side and felt his chest hurting. He really missed his boyfriend and wanted nothing more than for Luke to be here with him.

They haven't spoken to each other in months. Work was taking up Ashton's schedule and he had no time to talk to Luke, which really sucked to Ashton. He was so busy before and now that he was starting his world tour, his free time would only consist of him catching up on sleep.

"Ashton!"

The singer turned his attention to his manager who was calling for him. He groaned and sat upright. "Okay, I'm up," he responded. "Just stop yelling already."