Chapter Text
Bryana’s POV
Bryana could feel the tension the minute she had stepped foot in the house. She had hoped that Luke and Michael would have worked things out by now, but the feeling of unrest in the atmosphere clearly meant that they hadn’t. It broke her heart to see how much the two boys were hurting. She had known from the moment she met them that they were perfect for each other, and she was sure anyone else who met the two boys knew so too. Michael had gone into hibernation after the big fight. Karen had to bring food to the man cave door just to make sure he was eating. And when Bryana went with Ashton to visit she had spotted more than one water bottle filled with what looked to be pee. The dark circles under Michael’s eyes made him look almost sick, and the weariness and sorrow could be physically seen in the way he held himself.
Luke wasn’t doing much better. He didn’t isolate himself from the group like Michael, but it was like he wasn’t even there any way. He hardly spoke, hardly moved. His skin had lost its rosy color and his eyes looked dull and far away. The scariest part is he didn’t want anyone to touch him. And when he rejected cuddles from Calum one night, Bryana knew things had gotten too far.
The strain was showing on Ashton as well, and that hurt Bryana the most. She could feel the heavy ache living in her chest, the constant twitching of her fingers and the urge to just hug the shit out of all of them. She desperately wanted things back to the way they were. No, not even the way they were. She wanted them happy. She wanted to walk in to Ashton’s apartment and see Calum and Michael playing FIFA, Luke cuddled up close to Michael’s side and Ashton making dinner in the kitchen. She wanted them laughing. She wanted them making inappropriate jokes. She wanted Michael telling Luke to shut up, Ashton yelling at Michael for yelling, and Calum being a literal puppy.
Bryana may be a model, but she was no air headed blonde. She had a plan. If they couldn’t fix this mess, she would fix it for them.
Ashton’s POV
When Bryana had told him of her plan, he had smiled for the first time in weeks. His soulmate was fucking brilliant. He couldn’t stop himself from hauling her forward and planting a big kiss on her beautiful lips. Now he just had to wait for the right time to put the plan into motion.
They had enlisted Calum to help with their plan, knowing Michael wouldn’t be able to refuse the puppy eyed Kiwi. So earlier that day Calum had went over to Michael’s house and broke into the man cave. He had berated the blonde boy into agreeing to come over to Ashton’s for a movie night, swearing on his favorite bass that Luke wouldn’t be there. Michael had finally agreed when Calum had almost broken down in tears telling Michael how much he was worried about him.
Meanwhile, Bryana had convinced Luke to go shopping with her to pick out some Christmas presents for Ashton. Luke reluctantly agreed when she assured him all he had to do was give a thumbs up if he liked it or a thumbs down if he didn’t.
So at exactly 4pm Michael came barging through Ashton’s door, grumbling something under his breath about sunlight and outside being evil. Ashton plastered a grin on his face, hoping he wasn’t shaking too badly. He shoved a bowl of popcorn into Calum’s arms, a pile of candy into Michael’s, and picked up the drinks in his own before ushering the boys down the hall and into the guest room.
If Michael had been paying attention he would have noticed that one of the candies in the pile was Luke’s favorite. If Michael had been paying attention he would have noticed that the guest room Ashton had pushed him into didn’t even have a tv to watch movies on. If Michael had been paying attention he would have noticed that Calum walked past the door instead of going in, letting Michael go in ahead of him.
But Michael was too busy still being emo about the fact that he had to go outside to get here and he didn’t notice until it was too late. Michael was shoved into the guest room with the rest of the food, and Ashton slammed the door behind him. Michael stared at the door in confusion, but when he heard the lock snick into place he finally came out of his daze. He banged on the door, yelling insults at Calum and Ashton, demanding they let him out. But Calum and Ashton were already on there way back to the kitchen, smiling and hi-fiving each other over a job well done.
Exactly half an hour later, Bryana arrived with Luke. She asked him to help her put all of the shopping bags in the guest room closet so that Ashton wouldn’t find them. They headed down the hall towards the guest room. Just as they stopped in front of the door, Calum and Ashton popped out of the hallway closet and grabbed Luke, Ashton holding on to his middle and Calum clamping a hand over his mouth. Bryana opened the door and Calum and Ashton quickly shoved Luke inside, slamming the door closed behind him.
Luke panicked immediately, banging on the door and twisting the knob harshly. A knot started forming in his stomach as he wrestled with the door, screaming for them to let him out.
“They’re not gonna let you out, it was a trap. They planned this.”
Luke froze, his entire body going eerily still as he heard the voice behind him. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t hear anything but that voice ringing in his ears. He slowly turned, pressing his sweaty shaking palms against his black jeans, and faced the blonde angel from all his recent nightmares.
“H-hi Michael.” Luke managed to stutter out, dropping his eyes to the floor. It hurt to much to look at Michael.
But then Michael did something that forced Luke’s eyes to snap up to his. He dropped the block. Luke felt it, felt the emotions rush through his body like a tidal wave. Anger, hurt, sadness, longing, nervousness, relief. Michael smiled at him sadly, his fingers nervously twisting around the bracelets on his wrist.
“Hi Lukey.”