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“Ash! Can you get my penguin please? I still can’t reach it, you put the hanger too high, again”
Luke excitedly asked, leaning heavily on Ashton’s arm; who was currently doing the dishes of their lunch. He was finally on some well deserved time off from work due to the holidays. The 23-year old decided to take a week just to chill down with Luke before he started doing the Christmas’ preparations. Something Luke was thrilled to do. The apartment now managed to stay clean longer, thanks to the 16-year old’s help- since he took upon himself to do more chores when alone. And Ashton was so, so grateful.
“Is it dry already?” Luke nodded rapidly, wrapping his arms around the older man’s waist. “Okay, just let me finish here and I’ll get it for you okay baby?" The hazel eyed smiled to the boy.
“No, go now please! I need it I’m gonna play. I already brushed my teeth” Luke protested, gripping Ashton’s shirt in his small hands. “Wait a second Lukey, I’m almost done” the older had a stern tone now, not too serious but enough for Luke to drop it.
Except he didn’t.
“No! Come ooon!” he continued to whine, letting go of Ashton with a frown on his face. Ashton didn’t get a chance to answer before Luke was leaving the kitchen hurriedly, yelling “I’ll get it, whatever!” Making the adult groan “Luke, wait for me!” Ashton knew there wasn’t such a large difference on their height, but he still had some inches on the younger boy. He knew for sure Luke wouldn’t be able to get to the hanger on top of the window and take the penguin on his own.
He was about to call out at him warning him to not get any furniture dirty when he heard the loud cry.
Drying his hands quickly he scurried to the living room, only to find Luke on the floor, penguin plushy in his hands. However one of his hands held the body of it and the other gripped the torn head.
Luke was weeping.
“Baby what happened? Didn’t I tell you to wait?” He crouched down in front of the shaking boy, drying his tears with his thumbs, even though they kept coming like a waterfall. “I wanted to- reach it and- and when I pulled-” he paused to wipe his nose with the back of his hand “it got stuck and I pulled again and now is ripped” he spoke between sniffs, his cries getting harder whilst he desperately gripped the shred toy on his hands.
Ashton sighed, softly caressing the boy’s hair. “Don’t worry Lukey, I can fix it” he tried to say, but Luke was too agitated to even listen, he brought his knees to his chest and continued to sob uncontrollably. ”Come on baby its okay, I’ll fix it, promise. But you need to calm down”. He comforted the boy, trying to lower his legs so he could get closer to him. The kid wouldn’t move though, only when he kicked his leg on a small sign of tantrum. “It’s not gonna be the same!” Luke wailed, curling in on himself more, a default habit when he was really upset. “It will Luke, just”-
Ashton got interrupted by the phone ringing. He wanted to let it go to the voicemail, but whoever was calling wasn’t going to give up until Ashton answered. He grunted and got up “wait a second Lukey, but stop crying please, your head’s gonna hurt really bad later” he bent to kiss the top of his head and reached for the phone, glancing to see it was his mom on the screen. Before he could answer, the apartment’s bell started buzzing, more like; someone was persistently buzzing it, without stop, on a continuous way.
Ashton grunted louder, the phone stopped ringing on his hand, just to start all over again. This combination of sounds was just making Luke more altered and frustrated which resulted in a more stressed Ashton. “Lukey please calm down, I’ll fix your penguin baby” he moved to the door, hearing Luke only answer with more cries of ‘not the same!’
Great.
When he saw through the eye of the door he sighed in relief when he saw who it was, who they were. Opening the door quickly, he pushed past the boys in front of him “take care of Luke please, I need to answer this” he left to the hall outside, leaving Calum and Michael confused on the door of his apartment. They broke out of it upon hearing the cries of the boy curled on the floor. Michael hurried to get him while Calum closed the door behind him. The brown haired man spoke softly to Luke “hey there kiddo, what’s up?” The blond looked up surprised, before launching himself to the older’s arms.
“Calm down, calm down yeah? It’s okay! Whatever happened it’s okay now” Michael shushed the hysterical boy, picking him up and propping the boy on his hip. “What made you so upset Lukey boy?” Calum’s voice sounded like honey to Luke, the older boy’s hand caressing his hair and Michael’s going from swaying him side to side to bouncing him slightly on his hip was starting to calm him down, the sobbing stopping and only silent tears coming down his cheeks.
“My penguin” he murmured against Michael’s jacket clad shoulder, pointing to the toy on the floor. “That explains it I guess” Calum mumbled. Ask Ashton later.
When Ashton had finally ended the call with his mom -he said ‘bye’ six times before she could let him go- he entered his apartment and his heart melted like an ice cube on hell at the sight in front of him.
Michael was sitting on the sofa with an almost asleep Luke on his lap, slowly drinking the bottle that was being fed to him, his head resting on the man’s chest. Michael’s other hand was holding a cold wet cloth against the boy’s pounding head. Calum on the other side was carefully sewing the stuffed penguin’s head to its body, almost done with the toy.
Ashton couldn’t have asked for better friends, brothers on his life. He couldn’t be more grateful either.
“You guys, I love you so much” he said while closing the door. Luke barely raised his head when he heard his voice, but continued to drink peacefully. The hazel eyed made his way to the couch, sitting besides Michael.
“I’m seriously so grateful right now you guys couldn’t have come at a better time. That’s Luke's favorite stuffed animal, he always has it with him, as long as it's clean of course."
“That explains everything then” Calum smiled at him, reassuming his sewing.
“Don’t fall asleep on me boy, finish your bottle” Michael whispered to Luke, readjusting him so he could get more comfortable and continue drinking. Ashton beamed happily at them. “Yeah well I got it for him when he started living here. I had washed it earlier and when it was dry he wanted to grab it but he accidentally ripped it and-wait, Cal you know how to sew? Didn’t know that” Ashton frowned in confusion, but with a smirk on his face.
“Calum has many surprises Ash” Michael laughed, making Luke giggle around the nip of the bottle, spilling the drink down his chin, the 22-year old cleaning it before it landed on his shirt.
“Mali used to fix my football shorts back in high school every time I ripped them, after a while of watching her doing it I guess I just picked up the technique. I’m awesome at it now” he explained easily, holding the penguin up to inspect it.
“Alright Lukey, done with this baby” he showed the toy to the boy, who happily embraced it, his bottle already finished.
“What do you say Luke?” Ashton smiled at the boy. “Thank you so much Calum!” He excitedly hugged the 21-year old. “Is cool you lil omega” he rubbed the boy’s back.
“Okay Lukey, let me get you to your bed so you can take a good nap” Ashton spoke up, seeing as Luke didn’t detach from the older man after a while. Luke didn’t even flinch when Ashton lifted him up and carried him to his room. “Be right back guys.”
He carefully laid the boy on his bed, putting the dummy on Luke’s lips without a protest from the blue-eyed boy. He left him with a kiss on his forehead and an ‘I love you, my boy’, only getting an answer when he was already closing the door.
“I love you too daddy.”