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it’s a little incredulous to think that after almost nineteen years of existing, luke hemmings is still unable to walk on his two feet without tripping on practically nothing.
but now here he is, sprawled across the carpeted floor of the library, books he’d cradled so carefully in his arms scattered around him and the folder he’d held under his armpit vomiting out sheets of paper slowly settling down onto the floor like there’s been a huge snowstorm in the room. as luke lands face-first in his fall, there’s a sickening sound of plastic snapping and glass cracking and his mind is a jumble between loud sirens indicating pain and comparably softer, but distinct whispers saying, oh shit shit shit shit shit.
he lies on the floor, somewhat defeated, feeling the burn of everyone’s eyes in the room on his back as a deafening silence overtakes the room, all the spotlight on him now. the heat burning his cheeks and an overpowering sense of self-pity prevents him from getting back up, at least until all the attention on him has dissipated.
the clatter of feet against the carpeted floor tells him someone is approaching him with a certain amount of urgency. he feels the someone kneel and ask, “are you alright?”
luke lifts his head. fuck.
“‘m fine,” he mumbles, slowly pushing upwards with his hands, noticing everyone’s attention still so stubbornly fixed upon him.
"you sure?" the stranger points towards some undetermined area on his face, "your nose has a scratch now. i could get you a band-aid. also, are you feeling dizzy? that could be a sign of a minor concussion."
luke’s hand automatically reaches for the bridge of his nose and sure enough, he could trace a long, thin scar on his skin. half of his vision is blurred, he’s got somewhat of a dizzy feeling in his head, but he hardly thinks it’s got anything to do with a concussion, so he shakes his head in response.
"my name’s ashton," the stranger says, and even through luke’s poor vision he could see the row of white teeth on display. he could make out ashton on his knees, picking his books and scattered papers all up one by one, and putting the load of it onto a table before giving out a hand to hoist luke back up on his feet.
"c’mon, i’ll get you a band-aid now," ashton then peers closely at luke, "you’ll need a new pair of glasses, too." he slips the glasses off of luke’s face and now luke has to depend strongly on ashton to guide him through the maze of tables and chairs in the library all the way to the front counter.
"sit," ashton commands, and luke willingly complies, settling down on the front desk chair, hearing the buzzing sounds of the photocopier just to his right and the students’ hushed chatter going back to its original volume.
luke tries not to think too much about the way he’s sitting in the chair or how messed up he probably looks as ashton busies himself with searching around for a pack of band-aids. he’s self-conscious enough when he’s not half-blind and when he’s fully coherent, but in this state he’s just downright panicking deep inside, though he tries not to let it show. after a few minutes of muttered curses, ashton finally peels off one that he’s found, carefully placing it onto luke’s nose.
"you want me to get you anything?"
"just a 20/20 vision would be great."
ashton laughs. luke smiles, though feebly.
"i’m lacking in that area too, if you haven’t noticed, but you can give my glasses a try." ashton slips off his own and hands them to luke. luke reluctantly puts them on, knowing that ashton’s thick-rimmed frames would look ridiculous on him.
it works at giving him perfect vision, nonetheless.
"you have the exact same power as me," luke says, blinking with confusion.
"well then," ashton grins, the brightness of it now crystal clear in luke’s eyes, "you can keep those in the meantime. i have my contacts."
*
ashton had easily caught luke’s eye the first time he’d stepped into the university library after his first week of being on campus, the friendly greeting rolling off his tongue a three-syllable phrase that luke can never respond adequately to, “good morning!”
being a mere freshman at this particular university, luke had been under the impression that the library would be more of a quiet place for him to concentrate on his work, versus the chaotic environment in the dorms where there’s always something happening, whether it be his new roommate calum blasting music too loud for his own liking or the disturbing sounds of the next door neighbours doing god-knows-what from behind thin walls. his brain just simply wouldn’t work with that much noise around him, so one saturday afternoon he’d picked up his books, uttered a quick notification to calum before leaving and walked down to the library, past bustling students on their way to their respective locations.
what he didn’t expect was the six feet tall, curly-haired equivalent of trouble to distract him so much, up to the point where the whole purpose of him going to the library was basically defeated.
as hard as he tried to concentrate on the numbers on the pages, the pen in his hand furiously scribbling out equations and statistical numerals, his senses still found it hard to block out the sounds of ashton’s infectious laugh from behind the literature book shelf.
even so, he did manage to finish up his work eventually, so the library soon became his favourite haunt as the months passed.
luke had never been the true master of subtlety, which was probably why out of all the times he’d stolen a glance from the top of his book at the counter up ahead, ashton had caught him in all of them, smiling back coyly. he also wasn’t big on making the first move in any sort of human interaction, so despite all the obvious signs that it was completely fine for him to do so, he never had the guts to actually strike up a conversation. and that was how it had gone on, little stares and occasional secret smiles in between chapters about chemical bonds - day after day after day after day.
calum knew much of this, of course, raising the issue after weeks of being curious about luke’s frequent visits to the library when he wasn’t sleeping or at class.
"so have you talked to him yet?"
"uh. no."
"what? why?"
luke shrugged.
"listen, do you like this guy or not?"
"he has a name, you know. ashton?"
"yeah, i know that. it’s mad creepy that you’d know his name when he doesn’t know yours."
luke feigned a hurt expression, though by now, he’d pretty much gotten used to calum’s brutally honest verbal jabs. “he has a nametag on every time, can’t blame me for noticing.”
calum ignored his defensive statement. “so do you?”
"of course i do. i wouldn’t be telling you all this if i didn’t."
"then fuckin’ do something about it!"
it’s safe to say that luke hadn’t taken that piece of advice (if you could even consider that advice) seriously, given that he’d never attempted to do anything about it even after that, still content to continue with the routine of shy glances and sneaky looks. he was comfortable remaining anonymous to ashton, looking on from afar as the library assistant had animated conversations with the rest of the student body, completely confident in his own skin.
well, until now.
*
luke keeps ashton’s glasses for a week.
it is only on saturday, seven days after his accident in the library, that he actually finds time in his tight schedule to visit the nearest optic centre for a new pair of his own. although he doesn’t admit it, he’s starting to get used to having ashton’s glasses on him, like a reminder of the fact that he actually owns one of ashton’s possessions, albeit only temporarily. but of course, he keeps in mind the fact that ashton is technically still a stranger to him, so right after getting a pair of new glasses for himself, he heads straight to the library.
as luke hears the usual greeting and catches sight of ashton with his usual dimpled smile, he finds another reason why he wouldn’t want to give up the pair he’s holding in his hand.
"you look better without glasses."
ashton looks surprised, his hazel eyes wide and doe-like, the small flecks of colours luke’s never noticed before more obvious now. he recovers quickly enough, smiling in response.
"you look better with my glasses on."
luke laughs and shakes his head, ignoring the butterflies doing the vigorous rendition of cha-cha-cha in the pit of his stomach. “these are pretty expensive, though.” he gestures to his new ones, “wouldn’t want to waste them.”
"damn. should’ve told you earlier," ashton says. there’s a moment of silence as he takes his black-rimmed glasses from luke’s hand. "by the way, i don’t know your name…?"
"luke. luke hemmings."
"luke," ashton says it with relish, and luke thinks it sounds a hundred times better in his voice.
"um, i was thinking," luke blurts. calum had better be proud of him for this. "if you would want to, like, have a drink or something? later? whenever you’re done?"
ashton smiles again, and luke’s not sure how he’s still able to produce words when he’s looking into those warm brown eyes. “sure. i finish at six.”
luke nods, exiting the library with the urge to break out into a ridiculous jig in celebration, now that he’s got a story to tell calum when he gets back to their room after his next class (which he doubts he’ll be able to concentrate on today).
it’s the beginning of something he’d never thought would actually happen in a million years, given that the right opportunity had never presented itself before but now he’s seized it, earned himself an unexpected chance to be more than that anonymous kid exchanging glances with the boy at the counter.
and to think it all starts with a pair of broken glasses.